William John McCallien

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FGS OBE (1902-1981) was a 20th-century Scottish geologist and artist. He is known generally as William J. McCallien as an author, a common misconception is that he was also the artist known as W. J. McCallien , this was in fact his father.

Life

He was born in Tarbert, Argyll in 1902. He was educated locally then went to

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

to study Sciences, where he graduated BSc in 1923. He began lecturing in Geology soon after graduating and was awarded a doctorate (DSc) in 1930. In 1931 he was elected a Fellow 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 ...

. His proposers were Sir

Edward Battersby Bailey Sir Edward Battersby Bailey FRS FRSE MC CB LLD (1 July 1881 – 19 March 1965) was an English geologist. Life Bailey was born in Marden, Kent, the son of Dr James Battersby Bailey and Louise Florence Carr. He was educated at Kendal grammar s ...

, George Walter Tyrrell, Robert Alexander Houston and Thomas MacRobert. He won the Society's Neill Prize for the period 1939–1941. He left Scotland in the mid-1930s to take up the post of Professor of Geology at

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. In 1950 he moved to the University of Accra in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. He stayed there until retiral then returned to Scotland. He died in

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local governm ...

on 19 January 1981.

Publications

''The surface features of Kintyre''
(1929) *''Scottish Gem Stones'' (1937) *''Late Glacial and Early Post-Glacial Scotland'' (1937) *''The Geology of Glasgow and District'' (1938) *''The Structure of South Knapdale'' *''Vitrification of Arkose'' *''A Visit to Sanda''

Known Artworks

See etc. *From Tarbert, Loch Fyne *Washing Nets, Tarbert *Skiffs Discharging at Tarbert *Mallaig *Fishing Boats pulled up on a Beach Eventide

Family

In 1931 he married Catherine Duncan.

References

1902 births 1981 deaths Scottish geologists Scottish artists Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish non-fiction writers {{UK-geologist-stub