Joseph Burr Tyrrell, FRSC (November 1, 1858 – August 26, 1957) 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, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

(''Albertosaurus sarcophagus'') bones in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

Badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, mi ...

and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

around Drumheller in 1884. Canada's

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (RTMP, and often referred to as the Royal Tyrrell Museum) is a palaeontology museum and research facility in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. The museum was named in honour of Joseph Burr Tyrrell, and is situ ...

in Alberta was named in his honor. Tyrrell was born in

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * ...

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 ...

, the third child of William and Elizabeth Tyrrell. He was a student at Weston Grammar School before graduating from

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

in 1876 and receiving a law degree from 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 1880. After articling for a law firm 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 anch ...

, his doctor advised him to work outdoors due to his health. He 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 e ...

in 1880, leading or participating in numerous explorations. His book A Brief Narrative of the Journeys of David Thompson was published in 1888. That same year his book The Mammalia of Canada was also published. He led the 1893 and 1894 expeditions into the Northern Barren Lands, down the

Dubawnt River Dubawnt Lake is a lake in the Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is in size and has several islands. It is about north of the Four Corners, about west of Hudson Bay and about south of the Arctic Circle. To the northwest is the Thelon Wildlife ...

, the first visit to the

Kivalliq Region The Kivalliq Region (; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑭᕙᓪᓕᖅ ) is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the portion of the mainland to the west of Hudson Bay together with Southampton Island and Coats Island. The regional c ...

Barrenlands by a European since the explorations of

Samuel Hearne Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the C ...

in the 1770s. His younger brother,

James Williams Tyrrell James William Tyrrell was a Canadian topologist and author. Like his older brother, Joseph Burr Tyrrell, Tyrrell went on physically demanding expeditions to Canada's sparsely settled, rugged North. In 1898 he wrote ''"Central Canadian Waterways T ...

, accompanied Tyrrell on the expedition, which included the first European contact with the Ihalmiut,

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

from the interior of what is today Nunavut. Tyrrell married Mary Edith Carey in 1894 and they had three children, Mary (1896), George (1900), and Thomas (1906). Mary Edith was the founder and first president in 1921 of the Women's Association of the Mining Industry of Canada. In 1894, Tyrrell stumbled upon biographical recollections (11 books of field notes, 39 journals, maps, and a narrative) of Canadian overland explorer, cartographer, and fur trader David Thompson and, in 1916, published them as ''David Thompson's Narrative.'' Tyrrell went into the gold-mining business in 1898, a career that would last more than 50 years. In his work he published several books on gold fields. In 1912 he published The Law of the Pay-streak in Placer Deposits. He was the mine manager of the

Kirkland Lake Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The 2016 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,981. The community name was based on a nearby lake which in turn was named after Winnif ...

Gold Mine in northern Ontario for many years starting in 1926. Tyrrell retired to northeast Scarborough on the Rouge River, where he established substantial apple orchards and an interest in

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...

and breeding. The expanded orchards, later managed by his son George, are now the site of the Toronto Zoo. He died in Toronto in 1957 at the age of 98.

Honours and awards

Places named for Tyrrell

Tyrrell Sea The Tyrrell Sea, named after Canadian geologist Joseph Tyrrell, is another name for prehistoric Hudson Bay, namely as it existed during the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Roughly 8,000 years BP, the Laurentide Ice Sheet thinned and split i ...

(prehistoric

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

) * Tyrrell Arm, the east section of Yathkyed Lake, Nunavut * Joseph Burr Tyrrell Park, Toronto, Ontario * Tyrrell Lake, a small alkali lake near Warner, Alberta.

Institutions named for Tyrrell

, Drumheller,

* J. B. Tyrrell Senior Public School in Scarborough,

Joseph Burr Tyrrell Elementary School Joseph Burr Tyrrell Elementary School is an elementary school in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada and is named for Joseph Tyrrell. The school is overseen by the Fort Smith District Education Authority and administered by the South Slav ...

in Fort Smith,

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

Awards

* 1896 Back Award,

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

* 1918

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 ...

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 ...

* 1929 Honorary President,

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 a ...

* 1930 Daly Medal from the

American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the ...

* 1933 Flavelle Medal,

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 ...

* 1947

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), ...

, Geological Society of London * 1954 Professional Engineer's Medal from the

Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO; known until 1993 as the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, APEO) is the self-regulatory body that governs Ontario's 85,000 professional engineers, and sets standards for and regulates engineerin ...

* 1997 Canadian Mining Hall of Fame

Other honours

J.B. Tyrrell Historical Medal The J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal is an award of the Royal Society of Canada "for outstanding work in the history of Canada." It was established in 1927, endowed by the Canadian geologist and amateur historian Joseph Burr Tyrrell. The medal is ...

, Royal Society of Canada.

Tribute

On 1 November 2018,

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

commemorated his 160th birthday.

References

External links

Royal Tyrrell Museum website

Scientist of the Day-Joseph Burr Tyrrell
at

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...

* *
The History of the Geological Survey of Canada in 175 Objects
'
Joseph Burr Tyrrell
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

Historica’s Heritage Minute video docudrama about Joseph Tyrrell.
(

Adobe Flash Player Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on ...

.)
Joseph Burr Tyrrell Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
*

' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyrrell, Joseph 1858 births 1957 deaths Canadian geologists Canadian paleontologists Geological Survey of Canada personnel Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada University of Toronto alumni Upper Canada College alumni Wollaston Medal winners People from Kirkland Lake People from Weston, Toronto Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Paleontology in Ontario Burials at Toronto Necropolis