John Tuzo Wilson

Infobox_Scientist
name = John ('Jock') Tuzo Wilson

|300px
caption = John Tuzo Wilson Medal of Geophysics
birth_date = birth date|1908|10|24
birth_place = Ottawa, Ontario Canada Flagicon|CAN
death_date = death date and age|1993|4|15|1908|10|24
death_place = Toronto, Ontario Canada
residence = Canada
nationality = flagicon|CAN Canadian
field = Geophysics & Geology
work_institution = University of Toronto
alma_mater = University of Toronto University of Cambridge Princeton University
doctoral_advisor = Harry Hammond Hess
doctoral_students = Harold Williams
known_for = Theory of Plate tectonics
prizes = Officer, Order of Canada Companion, Order of Canada Fellow, Royal Society of Canada Fellow, Royal Society of London Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh Legion of Merit Order of the British Empire Ewing Medal, AGU Bucher Medal, AGU Penrose Medal, GSA Wegener Medal, EUG Wollaston Medal, Geological Society Vetlesen Prize, Columbia University Canada Centennial Medal 125th Anniversary Medal (Canada)
religion =
footnotes =

John Tuzo Wilson, Ph.D , CC , OBE , D.Sc , FRS , FRSC , FRSE (October 24, 1908–April 15, 1993) was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics.

"Plate tectonics" is the idea that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (crust and part of the upper mantle), the lithosphere, are broken up into numerous pieces or "plates" that move independently over the weaker asthenosphere. Wilson maintained that the Hawaiian Islands were created as a tectonic plate, extending across much of the Pacific Ocean, shifted slowly in a northwesterly direction over a fixed hotspot, spawning a long series of volcanoes. He also conceived of the transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally ("e.g.," the San Andreas Fault). His name was given to a young Canadian submarine volcano called the Tuzo Wilson Seamounts, [cite journal
author=Chase RL
title=J. Tuzo Wilson Knolls: Canadian hotspot
doi=10.1038/266344a0
journal=Nature
issue=266
pages=344–346
date=1977-03-24
volume=266] which is a hotspot volcano at coordinates coord|51.4|N|130.9|W|type:mountain_region:CA [cite web
url = http://www.geody.com/geospot.php?world=terra&ufi=-155885&alc=jtz
title = J. Tuzo Wilson Knolls
publisher = Geody] . The Wilson cycle of seabed expansion and contraction (also conversely called the Supercontinent cycle) bears his name.

Wilson was born to Scottish immigrants to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He became the first person in Canada to take a university course in geophysicsFact|date=July 2007, graduating from Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 1930. He obtained various other related degrees from St. John's College, Cambridge. His academic years culminated in his obtaining a doctorate in geology in 1936 from Princeton University. After completing his studies, Wilson enlisted in the Canadian Army and served in World War II. He retired from the army with the rank of Colonel.

In 1969, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to the rank of Companion of that order in 1974. [Cite web
url = http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1772
title=Order of Canada citation
publisher = Governor General of Canada] He was awarded the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London for 1978. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Society of London. [cite web
url = http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=RefNo='EC/1968/31'&dsqDb=Catalog
title = checktitle
publisher = Royal Society
work = citation] [cite web
url = http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/fellowship/obits/obits_alpha/wilson_john.pdf
format=PDF
title = John Tuzo Wilson
publisher = Royal Society of Edinburgh
work = obituary] He was the Principal of Erindale College at the University of Toronto and was the host of the television series, The Planet of Man.

He also served as the Director General of the Ontario Science Centre from 1974-1985. He and his plate tectonic theory are commemorated on the grounds outside by the Centre by a giant "immovable" spike indicating the amount of continental drift since Wilson's birth.

The eponymous John Tuzo Wilson Medal of the Canadian Geophysical Union recognizes achievements in geophysics.

ee also

*Science and technology in Canada

External links

*cite web
url = http://www.mssu.edu/seg-vm/bio_j__tuzo_wilson.html
title = J Tuzo Wilson
publisher = Society of Exploration Geophysics
work = Virtual Geoscience Center
*cite web
url = http://gsahist.org/gsat/gt01sep24_25.htm
work = Rock Stars
journal = GSA Today
date = September 2001
title = J. Tuzo Wilson

References

Persondata
NAME= Wilson, John Tuzo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Canadian geologist
DATE OF BIRTH= 24 October 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH= Ottawa, Ontario Canada
DATE OF DEATH= 15 April 1993
PLACE OF DEATH= Toronto, Ontario Canada