Robert Bell (geologist)

Robert Bell (born June 3, 1841 in Toronto , † June 17, 1917 in Rathwell , Manitoba ) was a Canadian geographer and geologist, known for numerous geographical discoveries in Canada. Over 3000 names of geographical localities are said to come from him, so that his colleagues also called him the father of Canadian place names .

Life

Bell was the son of a Presbyterian pastor and amateur geologist. As a teenager, he assisted geologist William Edmond Logan of the Geological Survey of Canada. He studied civil engineering at McGill University , where he also studied geology with John William Dawson and graduated in 1861. He then studied science for two more years at the University of Edinburgh and in 1863 became professor of chemistry and science at Queen's College in Kingston (Ontario) . In the summer months he worked as a student for the Geographical Survey, which he joined in 1867 and was permanently employed from 1869. He stayed there for the remainder of his career, becoming Assistant Director in 1877, Chief Geologist in 1890, and Acting Director from 1901 to 1909, but to his own disappointment never became a director. In 1908 he officially retired.

Bell particularly explored northern Québec , Ontario , Manitoba , the eastern Canadian Arctic, the Saskatchewan prairies and the oil sands of Athabasca, Alberta . He made records of flora, fauna, geology, climate, soil conditions, ethnology and deposits.

He wrote over 200 reports and publications as part of his work on the survey. Much of his extensive estate is in the National Archives of Canada.

In 1878 he earned his medical degree (MD) from McGill University.

He was a fellow of the Geological Society of London (1865), the Royal Society (1897), the Royal Society of Canada . In 1906 he received the Cullum Medal of the American Geographical Society and in 1906 the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. He has received several honorary doctorates (McGill University, Cambridge University, Queen's University in Kingston). In 1903 he became a companion of the Imperial Service Order.

He was the uncle of geologist James Mackintosh Bell .

Web links

• Dictionary of Canadian Biography