Browse "Nature & Geography"

Displaying 76-90 of 146 results
Article

John Thoburn Williamson

John Thoburn Williamson, geologist, diamond-mine owner (b at Montfort, Qué 10 Feb 1907; d at Mwadui, Tanganyika, E Africa 7 Jan 1958). After receiving a doctorate in geology from McGill in 1933, he began mining exploration in Northern Rhodesia [Zambia] but soon switched to Tanganyika [Tanzania].

Article

Jack Miner

John (“Jack”) Thomas Miner, also known as “Wild Goose Jack,” conservationist, lecturer (born 10 April 1865 in Dover Center, Ohio; died 3 November 1944 in Kingsville, ON). In 1904, Jack Miner created one of North America’s first bird sanctuaries. He was also one of the earliest to attach bands to the legs of migratory birds for the scientific study of their habits. Over the course of his lifetime he banded over 90,000 ducks and Canada geese, often inscribing bits of biblical scripture on each band. His records of these birds and their migratory patterns helped persuade the Canadian government to ratify the Migratory Birds Convention Act in 1917.

Article

John Tuzo Wilson

Wilson was internationally respected for his work on glaciers, mountain building, geology of ocean basins, and structure of continents; his greatest contribution lay in his explanation of PLATE TECTONICS.

Article

Joseph Beete Jukes

Joseph Beete Jukes, geologist (b near Birmingham, Eng 10 Oct 1811; d at Dublin, Ire 29 July 1869). Jukes had attended geology lectures at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1836.

Article

Joseph Dewey Soper

Joseph Dewey Soper, naturalist, explorer, writer (b near Guelph, Ont 5 May 1893; d at Edmonton 2 Nov 1982). Soper exemplified the quiet, unpretentious men who, surveying for the Dominion government, established the outline and substance of Canada.

Article

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier, arctic mariner (born 1 January 1852 in L'Islet, QC; died on 26 December 1934 in Lévis, QC). Captain of the government steamship Arctic, Bernier led seagoing expeditions into the Arctic between 1904 and 1911, certifying Canada's claim to the northern archipelago (see Canadian Arctic Exploration; Arctic Archipelago).

Article

Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres

His skill in surveying and mapping had been noted, and in 1763 he was employed by the Admiralty to prepare charts of the coastline and offshore waters of Nova Scotia, at the same time that James COOK was working in Newfoundland and Samuel HOLLAND in the Gulf of St Lawrence and New England.

Article

Joseph Tyrrell

Joseph Burr Tyrrell, geologist, explorer, historian (born 1 November 1858 in Weston, Canada West; died 26 August 1957 in Toronto, ON). Tyrrell explored the vast areas of western and northern Canada, consolidating information gathered by earlier explorers and filling in blank spots on the maps, especially in the Northwest Territories, while working for 17 years for the Geological Survey of Canada (1881–98).

Article

Joseph Whiteside Boyle

Joseph Whiteside Boyle (born 6 November 1867 in Toronto, ON; died 14 April 1923 in Hampton Hill, Middlesex, United Kingdom). Nicknamed Klondike Joe, Boyle founded a gold mining company and became a millionaire in the aftermath of the Klondike gold rush. During the First World War, he equipped a machine gun unit and was a spy with the British secret service in Russia and Romania. He also reorganized the Russian military supply network, rescued Romanian prisoners of war and became the confidant and possibly lover of Queen Marie of Romania.

Article

Josephine Mandamin

Josephine Henrietta Mandamin, Anishinaabe elder, water-rights advocate, Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner (born 21 February 1942 in Wiikwemikoong Unceded Territory, Manitoulin Island, ON; died 22 February 2019). Mandamin, known as “Grandmother Water Walker” and Biidaasige-ba (“the one who comes with the light”), was a world-renowned water-rights activist. She walked around the Great Lakes from 2003 to 2017 to bring awareness to the problems of water pollution and environmental degradation on the Great Lakes and on Indigenous reserves in Canada. For her activism, Mandamin was awarded the Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Award (2012) and the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross (2018). Her great-niece, Autumn Peltier, followed in Mandamin’s footsteps, becoming the next generation’s “water warrior.”

Article

Joshua Slocum

Joshua Slocum, sea captain and author (b at Wilmot Township, NS 20 Feb 1844; d at sea sometime after 14 Nov 1909).

Article

Juan de Fuca

Juan de Fuca, pilot, apocryphal explorer of the NORTHWEST COAST (b at Valeriano, Cephalonia I, Greece; d there c 1602). Other than what Michael Lok, an English promoter of geographical discovery, reported in 1596, little is known about Fuca.