Susan Sheets-Pyenson John William Dawson

Annotation

Dawson was born and raised in Pictou, Nova Scotia, where the many sandstone and coal formations provided fertile ground for his first scientific explorations, which culminated in the publication of Acadian Geology. He became principal of McGill University in 1855 and over the next forty years worked unceasingly to transform McGill from a "tiny, poverty-stricken provincial school" into a scientific institution of the highest rank. He was the only person to hold the presidency of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and its British equivalent. Dawson's energetic promotion of scientific institutions in Canada remains one of his most enduring legacies, particularly his role in creating the Royal Society of Canada.