Item 0014 - Letter, 12 February 1886

Zona do título e menção de responsabilidade

Título próprio

Letter, 12 February 1886

Designação geral do material

Título paralelo

Outra informação do título

Título e menções de responsabilidade

Notas ao título

  • Fonte do título próprio: Title based on content.

Nível de descrição

Item

Entidade detentora

Código de referência

CA MUA MG 1022-2-1-216-0014

Zona de edição

Menção de edição

Menção de responsabilidade da edição

Zona de detalhes específicos de materiais

Menção da escala (cartográfica)

Menção da projecção (cartográfica)

Menção das coordenadas (cartográfico)

Menção da escala (arquitectura)

Autoridade emissora e denominação (filatélica)

Zona de datas de criação

Data(s)

Zona de descrição física

Descrição física

Zona dos editores das publicações

Título próprio do recurso continuado

Títulos paralelos das publicações do editor

Outra informação do título das publicações do editor

Menção de responsabilidade relativa ao editor do recurso contínuo

Numeração das publicações do editor

Nota sobre as publicações do editor

Zona da descrição do arquivo

Nome do produtor

(1820-1899)

História biográfica

William Dawson, geologist, educator and Principal of McGill University (1855-1893) was an important scientific figure in nineteenth-century Canada, and one of the few of truly international stature. Born and educated in Pictou, Nova Scotia, he early showed a predilection for geology and palaeontology, and began collecting fossil plants from the coal fields in the Pictou area. During a period of study in Edinburgh in 1840-1841, he formed important friendships with Sir Charles Lyell, one of the pioneers of modern geology and with William Logan, shortly to become the first director of the Geological Survey of Canada. On his return to Nova Scotia, he began to publish and lecture on scientific topics. An appointment as Nova Scotia's first Superintendent of Education (1850-1853) entailed the extensive travel which enabled him to gather material for his Acadian Geology. In 1854, in the midst of his unsuccessful application for the chair of Natural History at Edinburgh, Dawson was offered the Principalship of McGill. He found the University on the verge of financial collapse. By a combination of scientific and entrepreneurial talents, he established it on a very sound footing and stamped it with a particularly scientific character. As a scientific educator, Dawson was highly progressive, and introduced a wide range of subjects into the undergraduate curriculum. His belief in the alliance of scientific and commercial concerns, seconded by the financial support of Sir William Macdonald, launched McGill's innovative programmes in applied sciences. However, on the question of the higher education of women, his stance against co-education generated much controversy. In his early years at McGill, Dawson taught almost all the sciences; later, as Logan Professor, he could concentrate on his main fields of geology and palaeontology. His early researches in the Maritimes leaned towards palaeobotany, but were also closely connected with iron and coal mining. Following the move to Montréal, his interests shifted to the Laurentian region and fossil fauna; he was deeply embroiled in the controversy over Eozoon canadense, whose zoological origins he championed. Apart from his extensive scholarly writings, Dawson published many popular works, particularly on the relations of science and religion. He himself was deeply fundamentalist and a vigorous opponent of Darwinism. As time passed, Dawson's research yielded to his involvement in scientific administration. He was the first president of the Royal Society of Canada (1882), the first to serve as president of both the American (1882-3) and the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1886), and a fellow of numerous other learned societies. He was knighted in 1884, following the Montréal meeting of the BAAS which he organized. Dawson married a young Margaret Ann Young Mercer, whom he met in Scotland and brought over to Canada, in 1848. The couple had six children, with five surviving to adulthood.

História custodial

Âmbito e conteúdo

Letter from J.W. Dawson to Prof. Laflamme , written from Mcgill college.

Zona das notas

Condição física

Fonte imediata de aquisição

Organização

Idioma do material

Script do material

Localização de originais

Disponibilidade de outros formatos

Restrições de acesso

Termos que regulam o uso, reprodução e publicação

Instrumentos de descrição

Materiais associados

Materiais relacionados

Ingressos adicionais

Identificador(es) alternativo(s)

Zona do número normalizado

Número normalizado

Pontos de acesso

Pontos de acesso - Assuntos

Pontos de acesso - Locais

Pontos de acesso - Nomes

Pontos de acesso de género

Zona do controlo

Descrição do identificador do registo

Identificador da instituição

Regras ou convenções

Estatuto

Nível de detalhe

Datas de criação, revisão ou eliminação

Idioma da descrição

Script da descrição

Fontes

Zona da incorporação

Assuntos relacionados

Pessoas e organizações relacionadas

Locais relacionados

Géneros relacionados

Depósito físico

  • Caixa: M-1022-11