Historical Information and Background

      John Tuzo Wilson was born in Ottawa, Ontario on October 24, 1908. He was the son of well-known mountain climber Henrietta Wilson and Scottish engineer John Armistead. John Tuzo Wilson was the oldest of three children. He loved being outdoors, and spent much of his childhood canoeing, skiing and swimming with his siblings. He also loved climbing mountains, just like his mother, and the Wilson mountain range in Antarctica was named in his honour. 

      John Tuzo Wilson was first introduced to the field of geology at the age of seventeen, when he became an assistant for an English geologist named Noel Odell. He continued to study geology at the University of Toronto, and in 1930 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in geology and physics. He was the first person to receive a degree in geophysical studies in Canada. Shortly after, he earned his second bachelor degree from Cambridge University. In 1936, he received his Ph.D in geology from Princeton University. 

     After he completed school, he did field work for the Geological Survey of Canada, then served during World War II in the Canadian Army. In 1946, he returned to the University of Toronto as a geophysics professor, and in 1967 he became the first principal of the Erindale College at University of Toronto. John Tuzo Wilson was named the Director General of the Ontario Science Centre in 1974 and he was the chancellor of York University from 1983 to 1986. He died at the age of 84 in Toronto, Ontario on April 15, 1993.