Browse "Earth scientists"

 Abraham Gesner, geologist, author, chemist, inventor (b near Cornwallis, NS 2 May 1797; d at Halifax, NS 29 Apr 1864). Gesner invented kerosene oil and, because of his patents for distilling bituminous material, was a founder of the modern Petroleum Industry.

Frank Dawson Adams, geologist (b at Montréal 17 Sept 1859; d there 26 Dec 1942).

Albert Peter Low, geologist, explorer (b at Montréal 24 May 1861; d at Ottawa 9 Oct 1942). Low joined the Geological Survey of Canada on graduation from McGill. The Québec-Labrador border was eventually defined on the basis of his 1893-95 explorations.

Alexander Murray, geologist, explorer (b at Crieff, Scot 2 June 1810; d there 18 Dec 1884). Murray served in the Royal Navy 1824-35, and then in 1837 immigrated with his young bride to Woodstock, Upper Canada.

Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn, geologist, director of the Geological Survey of Canada (born 28 July 1824 in Kilmington, England; died 19 October 1902 in Vancouver).

Alice Evelyn Wilson, MBE, geologist, paleontologist (born 26 August 1881 in Cobourg, ON; died 15 April 1964 in Ottawa, ON). Educated at the Universities of Toronto and Chicago, Wilson spent her entire professional career, from 1909 to 1946, with the Geological Survey of Canada. She was Canada’s first female geologist and the recognized authority on the fossils and rock of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Valley. While she repeatedly faced barriers as a woman in a profession dominated by men, Wilson was gradually recognized for her work through various honours, including becoming the first female Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1938.

Edith Berkeley, née Dunington, biologist (b at Tulbagh, S Africa 6 Sept 1875; d at Nanaimo, BC 25 Feb 1963) and Cyril, chemist (b at London, Eng 2 Dec 1878; d at Nanaimo, BC, 25 Aug 1973).

Andrew Thomson, meteorologist (b at Dobbinton, Ont 18 May 1893; d at Toronto 17 Oct 1974). Following graduation from U of T in 1916, Thomson studied and worked in the US, Samoa, New Zealand and Europe before returning in 1932 to the national meteorological service.

Andrew John Weaver, OBC, FRSC, leader of the BC Green Party 2015–present, climate scientist (born 16 November 1961 in Victoria, BC). Andrew Weaver is a leading climate change researcher who has made historic gains for the Green Party of British Columbia in his second career as a politician. In 2013, he was elected the province’s first Green MLA. In 2017, he led the Greens to three seats. After the 2017 election, he engineered a power-sharing deal with the BC New Democratic Party and toppled the Liberal government of Christy Clark to help John Horgan become premier.

Édouard-André Barnard, agronomist and journalist (b at Trois-Rivières, Qué 30 Sept 1835; d at Varennes, Qué 19 Aug 1898). An important Québec agronomist in the second half of the 19th century, Barnard had abandoned his studies early to go into trade.

Angus Mackay, prairie agriculturist (b near Pickering, UC 10 Jan 1841; d at Indian Head, Sask 10 June 1931). Mackay is reputedly the man who introduced "summer fallow," which some historians consider more important than any other discovery in allowing successful agriculture on the Canadian prairies.

John (Jack) Archibald Armstrong, OC, business executive, geologist, engineer (born 24 March 1917 in Dauphin, Manitoba; died 26 December 2010 in Nanaimo, BC). Armstrong graduated from the University of Manitoba and worked four decades for Imperial Oil, Canada’s largest oil company. He served as its CEO (1973–81) and chairman (1974–81) before retiring 1982.

Arthur Gilbert McCalla, cereal chemist (b at St Catharines, Ont 22 Mar 1906; d at Edmonton 30 Apr 1985).

Loring Woart Bailey, geologist, educator (b at West Point, NY 28 Sept 1839; d at Fredericton 10 Jan 1925). Son of a professor at the US Military Academy, Bailey was educated at Harvard and Brown and knew many important scientists.

Francis Bain, geologist, ornithologist, botanist, author, artist (b at Charlottetown 25 Feb 1842; d at York Point, PEI 23 Nov 1894). Bain, a self-educated farmer, was an authority on Prince Edward Island rocks, FOSSILS and natural history.

Douglas Barton Osborne Savile, botanist, ecologist, mycologist (b at Dublin, Ire 19 July 1909; d at Ottawa 1 Aug 2000).

John Seaman Bates, chemist, environmentalist (b at Woodstock, Ont 9 June 1888; d at Sackville, NB 26 Nov 1991). A graduate of Acadia U, in 1914 Bates obtained the first PhD in chemical engineering granted by Columbia U.

Henry Benedict Hachey, oceanographer (b at West Bathurst, NB 7 June 1901; d at St Andrews, NB 24 June 1985).

Charles Carpmael, meteorologist (b at Streatham Hall, Eng 19 Sept 1846; d in Eng 21 Oct 1894). Carpmael directed the development and extension of the Canadian storm-warning and weather-forecasting services for more than a decade.

Cedric Robert Mann, physical oceanographer (born at Auckland, New Zealand 14 February 1926; died at Sidney, BC 15 October 2009).