Site Map | Français| Contact Us | Home

Portrait of John Tuzo Wilson 1908-1993 John Tuzo Wilson 1908-1993

As a young man, John Tuzo Wilson helped mount an expedition to the Canadian Arctic to show that long-distance travel was possible there. Other scientists soon followed his example, opening up the Canadian North to scientific exploration. He made even greater scientific contributions to the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift. In 1960, the continental drift theory remained problematic. One of its difficulties was that it could not explain why active volcanoes sometimes occurred quite far from the nearest plate boundary. Wilson proposed that volcanic island chains could be formed by the movement of a plate over a stationary "hotspot" of rising magma. He also suggested that, if two plates slid past one another, they could form a transform fault, such as the famous San Andreas Fault. With these contributions, Wilson considerably strengthened the theory of continental drift, and became well-known in geophysics circles.

Wilson's abilities as a teacher were widely admired, and he had a reputation for spotting and nurturing scientific talent. In 1974, he was able to bring this quality to a much larger audience when he became the director of the Ontario Science Centre. Wilson saw this as an opportunity to inform the public about the importance of science through hands-on demonstrations. In recognition of both his scientific work and his contributions to society, Wilson received many honours and awards, including the Order of Canada 

Home Page   The Hall   Previous   Next