David was born in Ottawa (Manor Park) in 1952. He attended Manor Park public school, Queen Elizabeth public school, and Rideau High School (graduating 1970). He obtained a Bachelor of Mathematics degree at the University of Waterloo in 1975, followed in 1980 by a PhD in physics from the University of Waterloo. He spent 3 years at the University of Rochester. He then joined the National Research Council of Canada where he has been ever since.
At NRC, David was the group leader for attosecond science and thrust leader for security sensing within the Quantum Photonics Sensing and Security program. See the unofficial website at www.attoscience.ca and his personal page at www.attoscience.ca/villeneuve. David was also the co-director of the Joint Centre for Extreme Photonics between NRC and the University of Ottawa. See extremephotonics.com. David is an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa and at INRS-EMT.
David retired from NRC in 2021. He is now a researcher emeritus there. He continues to go into the lab most days.
David has been involved in many volunteer activities. He was a Cub and Beaver leader, coached softball and soccer, was president of the Fallingbrook Community Association for many years, was involved in building nature trails and the development of Petrie Island as a public nature preserve. David was named Cumberland’s Citizen of the Year in 1994. (The city of Cumberland was amalgamated with 10 other municipalities into the city of Ottawa in 2001.)
David maintains several community web sites:
