Great Geologists | 121
scientists should possess. Before the
early 1960s, proponents of continental
drift had focused on the evidence for the
process in the period from the Mesozoic
to the Recent. Wilson’s field experience
was extensively with Precambrian and
Paleozoic rocks, so in his opinion, any
theory of global tectonics needed to be
applicable throughout geological time.
Once he had realised that continental drift
could be applied to older rocks with, for
example, the closure of a proto-Atlantic
(Iapetus Ocean) in the Paleozoic, he
was able to fully embrace and make key
contributions to the rapidly emerging plate
tectonic theory, culminating in his theory
of supercontinent cycles, the unending
“dance” of the continents.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Wilson
began to focus his energies of the growth
of the University of Toronto. He was
appointed Principal of a new suburban
college, Erindale College. Nonetheless,
he continued to be engaged in the
development of plate tectonic theory and
proved himself an eloquent champion
against naysayers. This included the
presentation of the Canadian television
series ‘Planet Earth’.
On his retirement from Erindale College
at the age of 65, he was given a new
challenge by the Premier of Ontario - to
be the Director General of the Ontario
Science Centre. Under his leadership this
became a hugely successful ‘hands-on’
museum of science.
In 1985, he retired from this post in
characteristically unconventional style
— entering his farewell banquet in a
rickshaw pulled by a science student.
This incident reflected his larger than life
character and also his love for Chinese
culture. Influenced by his visits to China
in the late 1950s, he published a popular
book about the country in 1960: One
Chinese Moon. He also imported a
Chinese junk (“Mandarin Duck”) from
Hong Kong to be used near his summer
cottage at Go Home Bay on Lake Huron,
north of Toronto.
Wilson had a remarkable capacity to
assimilate detailed information and then
arrive intuitively at simple, yet elegant
models. He was a truly global geologist
who travelled to almost every corner
of the globe in an effort to find that
“beneath all the chaotic wealth of detail in
a geological map lies an elegant, orderly
simplicity.” As with many great scientists
he was willing to change his mind when
faced with new evidence.
He passed away in 1993, the recipient of
numerous honours including the Order of
the British Empire for his military service
and a Companion Order of Canada for his
scientific accomplishments. Outside the
Ontario Science Centre is the Continental
Drift Monument. It imagines a huge fixed
spike driven far into the Earth. It shows
how during Wilson’s lifetime the Earth’s
surface would have broken free from
around the spike and been dragged two
metres past it towards the west — an
ingenious tribute to an ingenious scientist.
REFERENCES
This essay has drawn upon information
from the following sources:
Frankel, H.R. 2012. The Continental Drift
Controversy. Volume IV: Evolution into Plate
Tectonics. Cambridge University Press,
675pp.
Garland, G.D. 1995. John Tuzo Wilson. 24
October 1908 – 15 April 1993. Biographical
Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society,
41, 534-552.
Hoffman, P.F. 2014. Tuzo Wilson and the
acceptance of pre-Mesozoic continental
drift. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 51,
197-207.
Lawrence, D.M. 2002. Upheaval from the
Abyss. Rutgers University Press, 284pp.
Le Grand, H.E. 1988. Drifting Continents
and Shifting Theories. Cambridge University
Press. 313pp.
Molnar, P. 2015. Plate Tectonics: A Very
Short Introduction. Oxford University Press,
136pp.
Oldroyd, D.R. 1996. Thinking About the
Earth. The Athlone Press, 410pp.
Polat, A. 2014. John Tuzo Wilson: a
Canadian who revolutionized Earth
Sciences. Canadian Journal of Earth
Science, 51, v-viii.
Richards, J.P. 2014. Making faults run
backwards: the Wilson Cycle and ore
deposits. Canadian Journal of Earth
Science, 51, 266-271.
West, G.F., Farquhar, R.M., Garland, G.D.,
Halls, H.C., Morley, L.W. & Russell, R.D.
2014. John Tuzo Wilson: a man who moved
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Science, 51, xvii-xxxi.