George mercer dawson biography
- DAWSON, GEORGE MERCER, geologist, author, teacher, civil servant, geographer, anthropologist, and palaeontologist; b.
- George Mercer Dawson (1849-1901) has been described as having possessed Canada's foremost scientific mind of the latter nineteenth century.
- Born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, on 1 August 1849.
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George Mercer Dawson
Canadian geologist and surveyor (1849–1901)
George Mercer Dawson | |
|---|---|
Dawson in 1885 | |
| Born | August 1, 1849 Pictou, Nova Scotia |
| Died | March 2, 1901(1901-03-02) (aged 51) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation(s) | Geologist, surveyor |
George Mercer DawsonCMG FRS FRSC (August 1, 1849 – March 2, 1901) was a Canadian geologist and surveyor. He performed many early explorations in western North America and compiled numerous records of the native peoples.
Biography
He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, Principal of McGill University and a noted geologist, and his wife, Lady Margaret Dawson.[1] By age 11, he was afflicted with tuberculosis of the spine (Pott's disease) that resulted in a deformed back and stunted growth. Physical limitations, however, did not deter Dawson from becoming one of Canada's greatest scientists.[2]
Tutors and his father provided his education during his slow recovery from the illness. Dawson later attended the High School of Mo
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L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia
Date Published:
April 2005
Dawson, George Mercer (1849-1901), geologist, was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, on August 1, 1849, the son of Sir John William Dawson and Margaret Mercer. He was educated at McGill University and at the Royal School of Mines, London . In 1873 he was appointed geologist and botanist to the North American Boundary Commission; and in this capacity he published a Report on the geology and resources of the region in the vicinity of the forty-ninth parallel (Montreal, 1875). In 1875 he joined the staff of the Canadian Geological Survey; in 1883 he became assistant director of the Survey, and in 1895 director. His work on the Survey lay chiefly in the North West Territories and British Columbia ; and its results are mainly embodied in the reports of the Geological Survey. He was one of the British. commissioners appointed to inquire into the resources of Bering sea in 1892, and he was, with Sir G. Baden Powell, joint author of the Repor DAWSON, GEORGE MERCER, geologist, author, teacher, civil servant, geographer, anthropologist, and palaeontologist; b. 1 Aug. 1849 in Pictou, N.S., son of John William Dawson* and Margaret Ann Young Mercer; d. unmarried 2 March 1901 in Ottawa. George Dawson lived in Nova Scotia until 1855, when his father became principal of McGill College, Montreal. The wilds of the McGill grounds reinforced in George a love of nature as a field for study that his father, an eminent geologist, had inspired. Young George collected natural-history specimens on Mount Royal and worked with the elder Dawson in the college museum. He excelled in his studies at the High School of Montreal in 1858, but was forced to withdraw by the onset of a serious illness, apparently tuberculosis of the spine (Pott’s disease). The physical effects were devastating: Dawson suffered a spinal curvature that deformed his upper body, stunted his growth, and left him with recurring headaches. These handicaps would make his later accomplishments as an explorer all the more remarkable. Private studi
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