John William Dawson

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Sir John William Dawson , called William Dawson (born October 13, 1820 in Pictou , Nova Scotia , † November 19, 1899 in Montreal ) was a Canadian geologist, paleontologist and school reformer. He particularly explored the geology and paleontology of Nova Scotia.

John William Dawson

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Dawson had Scottish ancestors and studied after attending Pictou Academy at the University of Edinburgh with the degree in 1842. There he studied geology and natural history with Robert Jameson (1774-1854). After graduating, he went back to Nova Scotia . From 1850 to 1853 he was Superintendent for Education in Nova Scotia, where he campaigned for reforms and followed the American educator Henry Barnard , with precise ideas about the architecture and furnishings of schools. In addition to his official work, for which he traveled a lot, he studied the geology of Canada and collected fossils. From 1855 to 1893 he was professor of geology and principal of McGill University .

In 1852 Charles Lyell , the famous Scottish thinker of modern geology, visited Nova Scotia as part of his third voyage to North America, and Dawson accompanied him. On this excursion they discovered the fossil remains of a land-dwelling Temnospondyle in the Upper Carboniferous sedimentary rocks of the cliff coast of the "South Joggins" , which were first described by Richard Owen in 1853 under the name Dendrerpeton acadianum . In doing so, the two laid the foundation for research into one of the most completely traditional ecosystems of the Upper Carboniferous in the world. Subsequently led Dawson further excavations in this locality by where he among other things, the bones of a land vertebrate pushed art, which he in 1860 in honor of Lyell under the name Hylonomus lyelli described, and which now serves as one of the earliest reptiles and one of the earliest amniotes applies .

He studied the plants of the fossil Paleozoic coal forests in Nova Scotia. In 1859 he was one of the first to describe plants from the Devonian and later published much on palaeobotany . Connected with it is the description of the Eozoon canadense (1865) made from Precambrian limestones from Quebec, which at that time were regarded by him as relatives of foraminifera and the oldest fossils, but are now regarded as metamorphic mineral formation. Although he was convinced, as a result of his geological and paleontological studies, that "nature" is a system that changes over geological time, he remained stuck with creationist ideas and rejected the view that humans and great apes are biologically closest relatives.

In 1860 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1862 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the American Philosophical Society . He was the first President of the Royal Society of Canada . In 1881 he became a member of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and in 1884 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor . In 1893 he was President of the Geological Society of America . In 1895 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . The mineral dawsonite was named in his honor .

He had been married since 1847 to Margaret AY Mercer, who was president of the Ladies Bible Association and with others founded a school for girls in Montreal. His son George Mercer Dawson (1849-1901) also became a noted geologist, director of the Geological Survey of Canada.

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Lyell, John W. Dawson: On the Remains of a Reptile ( Dendrerpeton Acadianum , Wyman and Owen) and of a Land Shell discovered in the Interior of an Erect Fossil Tree in the Coal Measures of Nova Scotia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. Vol. 9, 1853, pp. 58-67 (including J. Wyman: Notes on the Reptilian Remains. Pp. 64-66, and R. Owen: Notes on the above-described Fossil Remains. Pp. 66-67) ( BHL )
  2. ↑ Localities of the Carboniferous: Dendrerpeton and Joggins, Nova Scotia. University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), 1994-2006
  3. ^ John W. Dawson: On a Terrestrial Mollusk, a Chilognathous Myriapod, and some New Species of Reptiles, from the Coal-Formation of Nova Scotia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. Vol. 16, 1860, pp. 268-277 ( BHL )
  4. ↑ Trond Sigurdsen, Robert L. Carroll: amniotes, The Origin of. Pp. 63-69 in Richard M. Kliman (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology. Academic Press / Elsevier, 2016, ISBN 978-0-12-800049-6 , p. 64 f.
  5. ^ Dawson On the structure of certain organic remains in the Laurentian limestones of Canada , Quart. J. Geol. Soc., Vol. 21, 1865, pp. 51-59
  6. ↑ J. Adleman Eozoön: debunking the dawn animal , Endeavor, Volume 31, 2007, pp. 94-98, CF O'Brien Eozoön canadense: "The dawn animal of Canada" , Isis, Volume 61, 1970, pp. 206– 223. It was established in 1894 that the limestone was metamorphic.
  7. ^ " Anatomically considered, one is an animal of the class Mammalia. In that class, notwithstanding the heroic efforts of some modern detractors from his dignity to place him with the monkeys in the order Primates, he undoubtedly belongs to a distinct order. I have elsewhere argued that if he were an extinct animal, the study of the bones of his hand or of his head would suffice to convince any competent palaeontologist that he represents a distinct order, as far apart from the highest apes as they are from the carnivora. " P. 209 in: John William Dawson: Modern ideas of evolution as related to revelation and science. 4th edition. The Religious Tract Society, London 1890, doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.18937 .
  8. ^ Member History: John W. Dawson. American Philosophical Society, accessed July 8, 2018 .
  9. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed October 20, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Dawson, John William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian geologist and paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH Pictou
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1899
Place of death Montreal