The second Café Scientifique of 2025 was held on September 25 at GermanHaus (www.germanhaus.ca), located in Vancouver’s Armoury District. 

Germanhaus is an award-winning design studio specialising in creating exceptional kitchens that combine innovation, craftsmanship, and timeless design. A big thank you to GermanHaus for generously hosting us in their beautiful showroom!

The event welcomed around a dozen attendees, all eager to hear Tibor Horvath speak about sulphur—its properties, handling, and, of course, the iconic yellow pile on Vancouver’s North Shore.

Tiber Horvath, a chemist and University of Zurich (UZH) alumni currently working at Dubois Chemicals Canada Inc., delivered a fascinating presentation. He began with the basics—sulphur’s place on the periodic table (S, atomic number 16), its bright yellow color, and brittle texture—before diving into more intriguing facts. We learned that sulphur is found in volcanoes and is a byproduct of oil extraction in Alberta’s oil sands. It’s transported by train to Vancouver and is highly flammable. Tibor also explained how his company has developed chemical additives that reduce sulphur’s volatility and make it safer to handle.

The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session. Some questions were highly technical, while others were more practical. One common concern was quickly put to rest: no, you can’t ignite the massive sulphur pile on the North Shore with a simple match!

After the talk, attendees enjoyed some friendly networking. While some alumni were familiar faces from past events, for others, this was their first Café Scientifique.

GermanHaus kindly provided wine and also supplied some authentic French pains au chocolat. The food spread featured a generous cheese platter from Les Amis du Fromage (www.buycheese.com). Notably, Swiss cheeses were missing this time—but we’ll be sure to fix that for the next event!

Our next event will be an Apéro, on Thursday, October 30, starting at 6:00pm at Tap & Barrel on Granville Island. We hope to see a lot of our members there!