Research Catalog

John William Dawson : faith, hope and science

Title: John William Dawson : faith, hope and science / Susan Sheets-Pyenson.
Author: Sheets-Pyenson, Susan, 1949-
Publication: Montreal ; Buffalo : McGill-Queen's University Press, [1996], ©1996.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	QE22.D38 S54 1996g	Off-site

Description

274 pages, 13 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

Drawing on Dawson's correspondence and personal papers, Susan Sheets-Pyenson paints an intimate portrait of a pivotal figure in Canada's scientific heritage and a proper Victorian gentleman whose pious Presbyterianism, missionary zeal, and unwavering belief in the light of knowledge drove him on a quest to conquer ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry.
Dawson was born and raised in Pictou, Nova Scotia, where the many sandstone and coal formations provided fertile ground for his first scientific explorations and eventually brought him into contact with the leading geological minds of his day, Charles Lyell and William Logan, and 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 and British associations for the advancement of science.
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.

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

ISBN

077351368X

OCLC

ocm34591936

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries