John Tuzo Wilson | |
|---|---|
 John Tuzo Wilson in 1992 | |
| Born | October 24, 1908 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | April 15, 1993 (aged 84) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Theory of Plate tectonics |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geophysics & geology |
| Institutions | University of Toronto |
| Thesis | The Geology of the Mill creek - Stillwater Area, Montana (1936) |
| Doctoral advisor | William Taylor Thom, Jr |
| Doctoral students | Harold Williams |
| Notes | |
John Tuzo Wilson (October 24, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics.
Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (crust and part of the upper mantle), the lithosphere, is broken up into around 13 pieces or "plates" that move independently over the weaker asthenosphere. Wilson maintained that the Hawaiian Islands were formed as a tectonic plate (extending across much of the Pacific Ocean) shifted to the northwest over a fixed hotspot, spawning a long series of volcanoes. He also conceived of the transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally (e.g., the San Andreas Fault).
His name was given to two young Canadian submarine volcanoes called the Tuzo Wilson Seamounts.[3] The Wilson cycle of seabed expansion and contraction (associated with the Supercontinent cycle) bears his name. One of the two large low-shear-velocity provinces was given the name Tuzo after him, the other being named Jason after W. Jason Morgan, who furthered Wilson's work into plume theory.
- ^ Garland, G. D. (1995). "John Tuzo Wilson. 24 October 1908–15 April 1993". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 41: 534–552. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1995.0032.
- ^ West, Gordon F.; Farquhar, Ron M.; Garland, George D.; Halls, Henry C.; Morley, Lawrence W.; Russell, R. Don (2014). "John Tuzo Wilson, a man who moved mountains". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 51 (3): xvii. Bibcode:2014CaJES..51D..17W. doi:10.1139/cjes-2013-0175.
- ^ Cousens, Brian L.; Chase, R. L.; Schilling, J.-G. (1985). "Geochemistry and origin of volcanic rocks from Tuzo Wilson and Bowie seamounts, northeast Pacific Ocean". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 22 (11): 1609–17. Bibcode:1985CaJES..22.1609C. doi:10.1139/e85-170.