Arthur Philemon Coleman (April 4, 1852 – February 26, 1939) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and academic.

Biography

Born in

Lachute Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, the son of Rev. Francis Coleman and Emmeline Maria Adams, he received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1876 and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1880 from Victoria College in Cobourg, Ontario. He received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

at the University of Breslau in 1881. Coleman joined the department of geology and natural history at Victoria College in 1882 as a Professor. From 1891 to 1901, he was a Professor of Geology at the School of Practical Science in Toronto. From 1893 to 1909, he was a geologist at the Bureau of Mines of the Government of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. From 1901 to 1922, he was a Professor of Geology at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1919 to 1922. From 1931 to 1934, he was a geologist with the Department of Mines of the Government of Ontario. In 1898, Coleman lead a field expedition with the intent of surveying resources, along with the Geologist George Mercer Dawson and the famed Anarchist,

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

. Kropotkin gave his credit to Coleman, writing he was "well acquainted with the mining region of Central Canada." In 1907, Coleman inferred a "lower Huronian ice age" from analysis of a geological formation near

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. Coleman was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

in 1900 and was its President in 1921. He was awarded the

Murchison Medal The Murchison Medal is an academic award established by Roderick Murchison, who died in 1871. First awarded in 1873, it is normally given to people who have made a significant contribution to geology by means of a substantial body of research and ...

of the Geological Society of London in 1910 and in 1928 was awarded the Royal Society of Canada's Flavelle Medal. In 1902, he was elected President of the Royal Canadian Institute and in 1910, he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. In 1915, he was President of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

. In 1929, he was appointed Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He was author of: * ''Reports on the Economic Geology of Ontario'' (1903)
''Lake Ojibway; Last of the Great Glacial Lakes''
(1909)
''The Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails''
(1911)
''Ice Ages, Recent and Ancient''
(1926), and was co-author of ''Elementary Geology'' (1922). * ''The Last Million Years'' (1941) Edited by George F. Kay He achieved the first ascent of

Castle Mountain Castle Mountain ( bla, Miistukskoowa) is a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits ...

in 1884, and in 1907, he was the first white man to attempt to climb

Mount Robson Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part of ...

. He made a total of eight exploratory trips to the Canadian Rockies, wholly four of them looking for the mythical giants of

Hooker and Brown Hooker and Brown are two mythical mountains, once reputed to lie on the great Divide of the Canadian Rockies in Jasper National Park, bordering the Athabasca Pass, the old passage for the fur trade. These two peaks were reputed to be the highest mo ...

. Coleman was awarded the Penrose Medal of The Geological Society of America in 1936. His younger half-sister was poet

Helena Coleman Helena Coleman (April 27, 1860 — December 7, 1953) was a Canadian poet, music teacher, and writer. Early life Helena Jane Coleman was born in Newcastle, Ontario, the daughter of the Rev. Francis Coleman, a Methodist minister, and his second w ...

; the two shared a home in Toronto for much of their adult lives.

Legacy

Mount Coleman and Coleman Glacier in

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

are named in his honour.

Lake Coleman Lake Coleman was a large lake, in the same basin as Lake Ontario, during an interglacial period, approximately 75,000 years ago. Its level was higher than Lake Ontario. Lake Coleman was named after Arthur Philemon Coleman, a respected geologist w ...

, a lake with a higher water level, in the same basin as

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

, is named in Coleman's memory. The lake, like

Lake Iroquois Lake Iroquois can refer to: *Lake Iroquois (South Dakota) *Lake Iroquois (Vermont) in Vermont in the United States * Lake Iroquois, Illinois in Iroquois County in Illinois in the United States *Glacial Lake Iroquois Glacial Lake Iroquois was a pr ...

and

Lake Scarborough Lake Scarborough is a lake located northwest of Coleman, Texas. The lake is situated east of U.S. Route 84 and west of U.S. Route 283 U.S. Route 283 is a spur of U.S. Route 83. It currently runs for 731 miles (1,175 km) from Brady, Texas ...

, is a product of the melting and drainage, of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

References

Bibliography

The Arthur P. Coleman Collection at the Victoria University Library at the University of Toronto
*
A.P. Coleman: Geologist, Explorer (1852 – 1939) – Science, Art & Discovery, a Virtual Exhibit

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Arthur Philemon 1852 births 1939 deaths Canadian geologists Canadian university and college faculty deans Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Penrose Medal winners People from Lachute University of Toronto faculty University of Breslau alumni Royal Canadian Geographical Society fellows Victoria Medal recipients