John Tuzo Wilson *36

JOHN WILSON, the renowned Canadian geologist; author of the theory of plate tectonics (which explained the phenomenon of continental drift); and eminent teacher, researcher, and administrator, died Apr. 15, 1993. He was 84.

Born in Ottawa in 1908, John entered the Univ. of Toronto in 1926 and emerged as the first graduate in geophysics in Canada. Graduate studies took him to the Univ. of Cambridge in England and then to Princeton, where he received his Ph.D. in geology in 1936. His doctoral thesis on worldscale geological phenomena is considered the obvious precursor of the plate tectonic theory.

After Princeton, he joined the Geological Survey of Canada and subsequently developed a great interest in the Canadian North and winter travels in arctic regions. After WWII, he returned to the Univ. of Toronto as professor of geophysics. His career was further distinguished as the founder of Erindale College and as Chancellor of York Univ.

To his widow, Isabel, and to their two daughters; Patricia and Susan, we extend profound sympathy in his passing.

The Graduate Alumni