John Tuzo Wilson (October 24, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was a Canadian
geophysicist
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
and
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 ...
who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of
plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
.
''Plate tectonics'' is the
scientific theory
A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluatio ...
that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (
crust and part of the
upper mantle
The upper mantle of Earth is a very thick layer of rock inside the planet, which begins just beneath the crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle at . Temperatures range from appro ...
), the
lithosphere
A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...
, is broken up into around 13 pieces or "plates" that move independently over the weaker
asthenosphere
The asthenosphere () is the mechanically weak and ductile region of the upper mantle of Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at a depth between ~ below the surface, and extends as deep as . However, the lower boundary of the asthenosphere is not ...
. Wilson maintained that the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
were created as a tectonic plate (extending across much of the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
) shifted to the northwest over a fixed
hotspot, spawning a long series of
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
es. He also conceived of the
transform fault
A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subductio ...
, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally (''e.g.,'' the
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...
).
His name was given to two young Canadian
submarine volcano
Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...
es called the
Tuzo Wilson Seamounts
The Tuzo Wilson Seamounts, also called J. Tuzo Wilson Knolls and Tuzo Wilson Knolls, are two young active submarine volcanoes off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, located northwest of Vancouver Island and south of the Haida Gwaii archipel ...
. The
Wilson cycle
The Wilson Cycle is a model that describes the opening and closing of ocean basins and the subduction and divergence of tectonic plates during the assembly and disassembly of supercontinents. A classic example of the Wilson Cycle is the opening a ...
of seabed expansion and contraction (associated with the
Supercontinent cycle
The supercontinent cycle is the quasi-periodic aggregation and dispersal of Earth's continental crust. There are varying opinions as to whether the amount of continental crust is increasing, decreasing, or staying about the same, but it is agreed ...
) bears his name.
Early life and education
Wilson was born in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
on October 24, 1908, the son of
John Armistead Wilson John Armistead Wilson CBE (November 2, 1879 – October 10, 1954) was a Scottish-born Canadian engineer and aviation pioneer. Along with Major Clare C. MacLaurin, he was responsible for the formulation of Canada's aviation policy following the First ...
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, and his wife, Henrietta Tuzo. Wilson's father was of
Scottish descent and his mother was a third-generation Canadian of French descent.
He became one of the first people in Canada to receive a degree in
geophysics
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
, graduating from
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
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 ...
in 1930. He obtained a second (BA) degree from
St. John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...
in 1932 and then a doctorate (ScD). He then pursued further graduate studies as
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, where 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 ...
in geology in 1936 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "The Geology of the Mill creek - Stillwater Area,
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
."
Career
In 1936, Wilson joined the
Geological Survey of Canada
The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the en ...
as a government geologist. This was interrupted by the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
during which he served with the
Royal Canadian Engineers
The Canadian Military Engineers (CME; french: links=no, Génie militaire canadien) is the military engineering personnel branch of the Canadian Armed Forces. The members of the branch that wear army uniform comprise the Corps of Royal Canadian Engi ...
, serving in Europe and reaching the rank of Colonel. He was involved in
Operation Musk Ox.
In 1946 he was appointed the first Professor of Geophysics 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 ...
.
He made significant contributions to the theory of Plate tectonics, adding a concept of hot spots. Plate tectonics is the
scientific theory
A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluatio ...
that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (
crust and part of the
upper mantle
The upper mantle of Earth is a very thick layer of rock inside the planet, which begins just beneath the crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle at . Temperatures range from appro ...
), the
lithosphere
A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...
, is broken up into around 13 pieces or "plates" that move independently over the weaker
asthenosphere
The asthenosphere () is the mechanically weak and ductile region of the upper mantle of Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at a depth between ~ below the surface, and extends as deep as . However, the lower boundary of the asthenosphere is not ...
. Wilson maintained that the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
were created as a tectonic plate (extending across much of the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
) shifted to the northwest over a fixed
hotspot, spawning a long series of
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
es. He also conceived of the
transform fault
A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subductio ...
, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally (''e.g.,'' the
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...
).
The
Wilson cycle
The Wilson Cycle is a model that describes the opening and closing of ocean basins and the subduction and divergence of tectonic plates during the assembly and disassembly of supercontinents. A classic example of the Wilson Cycle is the opening a ...
of seabed expansion and contraction (associated with the
Supercontinent cycle
The supercontinent cycle is the quasi-periodic aggregation and dispersal of Earth's continental crust. There are varying opinions as to whether the amount of continental crust is increasing, decreasing, or staying about the same, but it is agreed ...
) bears his name, in recognition of his iconic observation that the present-day
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
appears along a former suture zone and his development in a classic 1968 paper
of what was later named the "Wilson cycle" in 1975 by
Kevin C. A. Burke
Kevin C. A. Burke (''Kevin Charles Anthony Burke'', November 13, 1929 - March 21, 2018) was a geologist known for his contributions in the theory of plate tectonics. In the course of his life, Burke held multiple professorships, most recent of wh ...
, a colleague and friend of Wilson.
His name was given to two young Canadian
submarine volcano
Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...
es called the
Tuzo Wilson Seamounts
The Tuzo Wilson Seamounts, also called J. Tuzo Wilson Knolls and Tuzo Wilson Knolls, are two young active submarine volcanoes off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, located northwest of Vancouver Island and south of the Haida Gwaii archipel ...
.
Wilson was president (1957–1960) of the
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG; french: Union géodésique et géophysique internationale, UGGI) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment usi ...
(IUGG).
In 1967 he became principal of
Erindale College, now known as University of Toronto Mississauga. In 1974 he left to become the Director General of the
Ontario Science Centre
The Ontario Science Centre, formally the Centennial Museum of Science and Technology, is a science museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the Don Valley Parkway about northeast of downtown on Don Mills Road just south of Eglint ...
. In 1983 he became Chancellor of
York University, Toronto
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staf ...
.
He was the host of the television series ''The Planet of Man''.
Honours and awards
In 1969, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
and was promoted to the rank of Companion of that order in 1974. He was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1971 and the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1971. Wilson was awarded the
John J. Carty Award from the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, of which he was already a member, in 1975.
In 1978, he was awarded the
Wollaston Medal
The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.
The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831. It was originally made of gold (1831–1845), t ...
of the
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
and a Gold Medal by the
Royal Canadian Geographical Society
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization dedicated to imparting a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada—its people ...
. He also served as honorary vice president of the RCGS. He was 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 ...
, 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 ...
, and of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
.
He was elected president-elect (1978–1980) and president (1980–1982) of the American Geophysical Union.
He also served as the director general of the
Ontario Science Centre
The Ontario Science Centre, formally the Centennial Museum of Science and Technology, is a science museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the Don Valley Parkway about northeast of downtown on Don Mills Road just south of Eglint ...
from 1974 to 1985.
Wilson and his plate tectonic theory are commemorated on the grounds of the Centre by a giant "immovable" spike that records the amount of plate movement since Wilson's birth.
The
J. Tuzo Wilson Medal of the
Canadian Geophysical Union
The Canadian Geophysical Union (French: Union géophysique canadienne) (CGU) began as a society dedicated to the scientific study of the solid earth and has evolved into one that is concerned with all aspects of the physical study of Earth and its ...
recognizes achievements in geophysics. He is also commemorated by a named memorial professorship and an eponymous annual public lecture delivered 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 ...
.
He is one of the 2016 inductees into
Legends Row: Mississauga Walk of Fame.
Personal life
Photography
Wilson was an avid traveller and took a large number of photographs during his travels to many destinations, including European countries, parts of the then USSR, China, the southern Pacific, Africa, and to both polar regions. Although many of his photos are geological—details of rocks and their structures or panoramas of large formations—the bulk of his photos are of the places, activities and people that he saw on his travels: landscapes, city views, monuments, sites, instruments, vehicles, flora and fauna, occupations and people.
Family
In 1938 he married Isabel Jean Dickson.
He retired in 1986 and died in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
on April 15, 1993.
Selected publications
*''One Chinese Moon'' (1959)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
List of geophysicists
This is a list of geophysicists, people who made notable contributions to geophysics, whether or not geophysics was their primary field. These include historical figures who laid the foundations for the field of geophysics. More recently, some of ...
*
Science and technology in Canada
Science and technology in Canada consists of three distinct but closely related phenomena:
* the diffusion of technology in Canada
* scientific research in Canada
* innovation, invention and industrial research in Canada
In 2019, Canada spent ...
References
External links
*
*
The life of John Tuzo Wilson history pages, Department of Physics, University of Toronto.
The Tuzo Wilson Lecture an annual public lecture given at the University of Toronto.
The J. Tuzo Wilson Professorship a named memorial professorship at the University of Toronto.
Travel Photographs of J. Tuzo WilsonJohn Tuzo Wilson archival papersheld at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services* Watch Tuzo Wilson in the
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John Tuzo
1908 births
1993 deaths
Military personnel from Ottawa
Royal Canadian Engineers officers
Presidents of the Canadian Geophysical Union
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
20th-century Canadian geologists
Tectonicists
Chancellors of York University
Companions of the Order of Canada
Canadian geophysicists
Wilson Medal recipients
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
Canadian Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit
Penrose Medal winners
University of Toronto alumni
Trinity College (Canada) alumni
Princeton University alumni
Logan Medal recipients
Wollaston Medal winners
Sandford Fleming Award recipients
Canadian Army personnel of World War II
Presidents of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the American Philosophical Society