Prof William Johnson Sollas
PGS FRS 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 ...
LLD (30 May 1849 – 20 October 1936) was a
British geologist and anthropologist. After studying at the
City of London School
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Boys' independent day school
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Alan Bird
, chair_label = Chair of Governors
, chair = Ian Seaton
, founder = John Carpenter
, special ...
, the
Royal College of Chemistry
The Royal College of Chemistry: the laboratories. Lithograph
The Royal College of Chemistry (RCC) was a college originally based on Oxford Street in central London, England. It operated between 1845 and 1872.
The original building was designed ...
and the
Royal School of Mines
The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bi ...
he matriculated to
St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded First Class Honours in geology. After some time spent as a University Extension lecturer he became lecturer in Geology and Zoology at
University College, Bristol in 1879, where he stayed until he was offered the post of Professor of Geology at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
. In 1897 he was offered the post of Professor of Geology at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, which he accepted.
Considered "one of the last true geological polymaths",
Sollas worked in a number of areas including the study of sponges,
brachiopod
Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...
s and petrological research, and during his lifetime published 180 papers and wrote three books. He also invented the serial sectioning device for the study of fossils.
[A method for the investigation of fossils by serial section. ]
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
' His biggest contribution at Oxford was in expanding the University geology department, hiring new Demonstrators and Lecturers and expanding the facilities available to students. Described as "eccentric" in his final years, he left much of the running of the Department to J.A. Douglas while he concentrated on research, finally dying in office on 20 October 1936.
Early life and education
Sollas was born in Birmingham on 30 May 1849 to William Henry Sollas, a ship owner, and his wife Emma Wheatley. He was educated at the
City of London School
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Boys' independent day school
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Alan Bird
, chair_label = Chair of Governors
, chair = Ian Seaton
, founder = John Carpenter
, special ...
, where he first became interested in chemistry, and from there moved on to the
Royal College of Chemistry
The Royal College of Chemistry: the laboratories. Lithograph
The Royal College of Chemistry (RCC) was a college originally based on Oxford Street in central London, England. It operated between 1845 and 1872.
The original building was designed ...
in 1865, spending two years working with
Sir Edward Frankland
Sir Edward Frankland, (18 January 18259 August 1899) was an English chemist. He was one of the originators of organometallic chemistry and introduced the concept of combining power or valence. An expert in water quality and analysis, he was ...
, and in 1867 gained a scholarship to study at the
Royal School of Mines
The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bi ...
.
[ There he came under the influence of scientists such as ]Warington Wilkinson Smyth
Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth (26 August 181719 June 1890) was a British geologist.
Biography
Smyth was born at Naples, the son of Admiral W H Smyth and his wife Annarella Warington. His father was engaged in the Admiralty Survey o ...
and Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The stori ...
, later saying "I owe uxleymore, both morally and intellectually, than to any other I can name".[Watts (1938) p.265] After becoming an Associate of the Royal School of Mines he competed with William Garnett for chemistry scholarships at St. John's College, Cambridge; they were both accepted.[ At Cambridge Sollas was taught by Thomas George Bonney, who persuaded him to switch to geology, which he did, gaining First Class Honours in the ]Natural Sciences Tripos
The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, ...
in 1873.
Academia
After graduating Sollas spent six years as a University Extension Lecturer, publishing a syllabus of lectures in 1876 on geology and biology, and in 1879 became lecturer in Geology and Zoology at University College, Bristol. In 1880 he was made Professor of Geology. In 1883 Sollas left Bristol to take up a position as Professor of Geology at Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, where he remained until he was made Professor of Geology at the University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
in 1897. At Oxford his main contribution was significantly expanding the Geology department, appointing new demonstrators and lecturers and employing his own daughters as unpaid research assistants. At the same time he did research in a variety of fields, and was described as "one of the last true geological polymaths".
Professor Sollas lead the 1896 ''Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society'', which was an expedition to Funafuti
Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people (2017 census), and so it has more people than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with approximately 60% of the population. It consists of a narrow sweep of lan ...
in the Ellice Islands (now known as Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northea ...
) conducted by the Royal Society of London
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, r ...
for the purpose of investigating the formation of coral reefs
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
...
and the question as to whether traces of shallow water organisms could be found at depth in the coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...
of Pacific atolls
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...
. This investigation followed the work on the structure and distribution of coral reefs
''The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Being the first part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. Fitzroy, R.N. during the years 1832 to 1836'', was published in 1842 as Charles Darwin's first monogr ...
conducted by Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
in the Pacific. Drilling occurred in 1896, 1897 and 1911. The expedition conducted drilling on the atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...
to take borings which it was hoped would settle the question of the formation of coral atolls. There were defects in the boring machinery and the bore penetrated only slightly more than 100 feet (approx. 31 m). In addition to reports of results of the expedition, Prof. Sollas also published ''The Legendary History of Funafuti''.
In his later years Sollas became increasingly eccentric, and left much of the running of the Department to his Demonstrator, J.A. Douglas while he concentrated on research.
He died in Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
on 20 October 1936, still in office. After his death Douglas attempted to link him to the Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although there were doubts about its authenticity virtually from the beginning, the remains ...
hoax.
Research work
Sollas's research was over a wide area; during his lifetime he published over 180 papers and three books, and as well as his geological and zoological studies became an expert in anthropology. His first area of interest was the Cambridge Greensand, which he began working on when studying at the University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
.[Watts (1938) p.266] He published nine papers on the formation, mainly on the sponges, and for his work 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), ...
in 1878. From 1878 until 1889 he dedicated his research work entirely to sponges and fossils, publishing a series of papers and reports on new species.[ In 1887 he wrote an article on ]phylum
In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature ...
for the Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
. His work on sponges led him to investigate their physical structure, and from there the makeup of chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...
.
At Bristol he worked in palaeontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
, describing a new species of plesiosaurus
''Plesiosaurus'' (Greek: ' ('), near to + ' ('), lizard) is a genus of extinct, large marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the Early Jurassic. It is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England. It is distinguishable b ...
, but also published papers on the geological makeup of Bristol and the Silesian fossils near the Welsh border.[Watts (1938) p.267] After moving to Dublin he worked on ''foraminifera
Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly ...
'' and brachiopod
Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...
s, before switching to petrological work. His first major paper was on the granite of Leinster
Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...
, where he conducted a detailed chemical analysis of the rock and invented the diffusion column to assist in this.[Watts (1938) p.268] In 1896 he travelled to the Pacific Ocean to investigate the formation of the Funafuti
Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people (2017 census), and so it has more people than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with approximately 60% of the population. It consists of a narrow sweep of lan ...
coral atoll
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secr ...
, drawing inconclusive results. In 1905 he published the collection of essays ''The Age of the Earth'', and in 1911 an anthropological work ''Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives''.
In 1889 Sollas became a Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
, and was awarded the Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...
in 1914. From 1900 to 1902 he was vice president, and from 1908 to 1910 he served as president 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 ...
, who awarded him the Bigsby Medal in 1893 and 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), ...
in 1907. Sollas is known for inventing the serial sectioning device, which made it possible to study the internal anatomy of fossils by removing thin layers of them in cross-section, and capturing the anatomy through drawings and photographs. This method was destructive, but made it possible to study previously unknown internal structures of fossil animals such as ichthyosaurs,[Sollas, W.J., 1918. III]
The skull of ichthyosaurus, studied in serial sections
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B'', Containing Papers of a Biological Character, 208(348-359), pp.63-126. and dicynodonts.[Sollas, Igerna B. J., and Sollas, W. J. 1914]
A Study of the skull of a Dicynodon by means of serial sections
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society''.
Personal life and family
Sollas's first wife (1874) was Helen Coryn, daughter of William John Coryn of Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...
. He and Helen had two daughters, both of whom became academics. Elder daughter Hertha received a PhD from the University of Heidelberg
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
and translated several works into German, and his younger daughter Igerna was one of the first women to be awarded a degree in geology from the University of Cambridge, and went on to be a geologist and zoologist, collaborating on fossils with her father.
Helen died in 1911 and in 1914 he married Amabel Nevill Jeffreys, who died in 1928. He did not remarry.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sollas, William Johnson
1849 births
1936 deaths
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Royal Society
Royal Medal winners
Wollaston Medal winners