Bjarni Valdimar Tryggvason

Bjarni Tryggvason was born in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1945. Captivated by aviation at a young age, in Richmond, British Columbia, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and earned his commercial pilot wings by age 20. He has been involved in Canadian aviation ever since.

Tryggvason completed a degree in engineering physics and, despite his goal to become a commercial airline pilot, he accepted a position with the Atmospheric Environmental Service. His work as a researcher then took him to the University of Western Ontario, at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel, and to Kyoto, Japan and North Queensland, Australia. Keen to add to his piloting skills, he earned his instructor rating.

In 1982, Tryggvason joined the National Research Council’s Low Speed Aerodynamics Laboratory. A year later he applied for and was accepted to Canada’s first astronaut corps. With the NRC and the Canadian Space Agency, he helped design and develop satellites and fluid dynamics projects, but his primary focus was vibration isolation systems.

In 1997, as part of STS-85, Tryggvason served as payload specialist aboard the shuttle Discovery. Since returning to earth, he has remained active in Canadian aviation. But, having been at the forefront of Canada’s aerospace program, this more recent work involves Canada’s aviation heritage and the flying of vintage aircraft, notably his 2009 flight of the replica Silver Dart – the first aircraft to fly in Canadian skies