Frank Dawson Adams was born into a prosperous, middle-class family in Montreal, Quebec.
Adams attended the High School of Montreal (a private school founded in 1843 and closely associated with McGill University after 1852).[2] As a pupil there, Adams received a classical education, and his knowledge of Latin was valuable later in life in his historical studies.
At the age of sixteen he entered the Applied Science Program at McGill University, where he studied geology with John William Dawson (Principal of McGill since 1852) and Bernard Harrington (who had set up the Applied Science program). In unpublished notes [3] he described Harrington as "the professor who influenced me chiefly."[4]
He graduated with first class honors in Applied Science in 1878, then spent a year at the Yale Scientific School, where he studied German, French, and mineralogy. It was there that he met George Wessel Hawes (1848-1882) a pioneer American petrologist, who had worked with Harry Rosenbusch in Germany. He also met a fellow-student, Andrew Cowper Lawson, and in 1888 they published a joint paper on their investigation of the mineral scapolite. Returning to Montreal, he was appointed Assistant Chemist at the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), and the following year (when the GSC moved to Ottawa), Assistant Chemist and Petrographer.[5] He received a leave of absence to spend at least part of two years in Heidelberg, studying with Harry Rosenbusch, who by that time was the acknowledged master of microscopic petrography of igneous rocks.[6] Rosenbusch attracted students from many different countries. While Adams was in Heidelberg he met G.H. Williams and J.S. Diller, both of whom later became leading American petrologists, as well as Victor Goldschmidt and (Carl) Alfred Osann (1859–1923), who became famous geochemists in Europe.[7]
In 1883, Adams published the first work in Canada that made full use of the petrographic microscope, as well as a paper indicating that he had already begun the field work north of Montreal, that later became the basis of his doctorate at Heidelberg. He received a master's degree from McGill in 1884, and his Ph.D. from Heidelberg University in 1892. His doctoral studies on the Morin anorthosite showed that these rocks were not metamorphosedsediments, as thought previously, but were igneous rocks that had been intruded into Grenville sediments and later metamorphosed in the Grenville orogeny.
Career
In 1889 Adams was appointed Lecturer in Geology at McGill University. He was appointed Logan Professor of Geology after the retirement of John William Dawson in 1892 and held this position until his own retirement in 1924. Though he was working full-time at McGill, he continued to spend summers in the field, financed by the GSC. In 1891 he began working on the Grenville of eastern Ontario, and by the following year had started to work on the Haliburton, Ontario area. His work there, carried out after 1896 with Alfred Barlow of the GSC, was published as a GSC Memoir in 1908, and became a classic of Canadian geology. The rocks, which included unusual alkaline rocks, were not merely mapped, but studied in detail using petrographic and chemical methods, and firm conclusions were drawn about their petrogenesis, all of which was unusual for a GSC Memoir at that time.
At the same time, Adams was also studying the peculiar petrological characteristics of a group of alkaline intrusions of much later geological age (now known to be Early Cretaceous), called by him the "Monteregian Hills." This work would be continued by his students, notably Joseph Austin Bancroft (1882-1957),[8] who succeeded Adams as Logan Professor at McGill.[9] Inspired by his observations on the flow of metamorphosed limestones in the Grenville, Adams began a series of pioneer experimental studies of the physical properties of rocks at high pressures and temperatures, carried out in collaboration with John Thomas Nicholson, Professor of Engineering at McGill.[10] This was well before comparable work was carried out in Germany or the United States. Though the experimental apparatus was primitive compared with that later developed at Harvard University and the Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, D.C., Adams' work was highly regarded by the newly founded Carnegie Institution for Science, which supported him financially, and attempted to persuade him to move to the Institution.[4][11][12]
Adams remained at McGill, where he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and then as Vice-Principal to the University. He served as President of the International Geological Congress held in Toronto in 1913,[13] and was President of the Geological Society of America in 1917.[14][15] He received many honors during his career, first becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1896, a Fellow of the Royal Society (of Great Britain) in 1907,[4] a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1917,[16] and awarded the Flavelle Medal, which is given for outstanding contributions to biological science, in 1937. The Frank Dawson Adams Building at McGill University is named in his honor. A plaque in his honor was erected on the Redpath Museum on the McGill campus in 1950.
He retired from McGill in 1924, and began to travel widely, collecting books on the history of geology, as well as rocks and minerals for McGill. He published several papers on the geology of Ceylon and also on the history of geology, culminating in his book Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences (1938). It became a classic and was reprinted by Dover Publications in 1954. He left his rare book collection (1581 monographs) to McGill university.
^ abcFlett, J.S. (November 1943). "Frank Dawson Adams, 1859-1942". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 4 (12): 381–393. Bibcode:1943JG.....51..212C. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1943.0010. S2CID 154649431.
^Zaslow, M., 1975. Reading the Rocks: The Story of the Geological Survey of Canada 1842-1872. Toronto, Macmillan.
^Young, D.A., 2003. Mind Over Magma: The Story of Igneous Petrology. Princeton University Press, p.154-165
^Mahler, J.P. and H.W. Pfefferkorn, 1988. The influence of the University of Heidelberg on the development of geology in North America between 1860 and 1913. Earth Sciences History, 7:33-43.
^"Dr Joseph Bancroft". The Glasgow Herald. December 12, 1957.
^"History". Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. McGill University. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
^Easkins, P.R., 1972. Frank Dawson Adams -- Founder of modern structural geology. Proceedings of the Geological Association of Canada, 24: 13-16.
^Geschwind, C.-H., 1995. Becoming interested in experiments: American igneous petrologists and the Geophysical Laboratory, 1905-1965. Earth Sciences History, 14:47-61
^Yochelson, E.L. and H.S. Yoder, Jr., 1994. Founding of the Geophysical Laboratory, 1901-1905: A scientific bonanza from perception of persistence. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106:338-350
^Middleton, G.V., 2007. The 12th International Geological Congress, Toronto, 1913. Episodes, 30:1-12.
^Fairchild, Herman LeRoy, 1932, The Geological Society of America 1888-1930, a Chapter in Earth Science History: New York, The Geological Society of America, 232 p.
^Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Memoir 155, 168 p., ISBN0-8137-1155-X.
^"Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
frank, dawson, adams, other, people, with, same, name, francis, adams, disambiguation, frsc, september, 1859, december, 1942, canadian, geologist, frscborn, 1859, september, 1859montreal, quebec, canadadieddecember, 1942, 1942, aged, montreal, quebec, canadana. For other people with the same name see Francis Adams disambiguation Frank Dawson Adams FRS FRSC September 17 1859 December 26 1942 was a Canadian geologist 1 Frank Dawson AdamsFRS FRSCBorn 1859 09 17 September 17 1859Montreal Quebec CanadaDiedDecember 26 1942 1942 12 26 aged 83 Montreal Quebec CanadaNationalityCanadianAwardsLyell Medal 1906 Flavelle Medal 1937 Wollaston Medal 1939 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External linksEarly life and education EditFrank Dawson Adams was born into a prosperous middle class family in Montreal Quebec Adams attended the High School of Montreal a private school founded in 1843 and closely associated with McGill University after 1852 2 As a pupil there Adams received a classical education and his knowledge of Latin was valuable later in life in his historical studies At the age of sixteen he entered the Applied Science Program at McGill University where he studied geology with John William Dawson Principal of McGill since 1852 and Bernard Harrington who had set up the Applied Science program In unpublished notes 3 he described Harrington as the professor who influenced me chiefly 4 He graduated with first class honors in Applied Science in 1878 then spent a year at the Yale Scientific School where he studied German French and mineralogy It was there that he met George Wessel Hawes 1848 1882 a pioneer American petrologist who had worked with Harry Rosenbusch in Germany He also met a fellow student Andrew Cowper Lawson and in 1888 they published a joint paper on their investigation of the mineral scapolite Returning to Montreal he was appointed Assistant Chemist at the Geological Survey of Canada GSC and the following year when the GSC moved to Ottawa Assistant Chemist and Petrographer 5 He received a leave of absence to spend at least part of two years in Heidelberg studying with Harry Rosenbusch who by that time was the acknowledged master of microscopic petrography of igneous rocks 6 Rosenbusch attracted students from many different countries While Adams was in Heidelberg he met G H Williams and J S Diller both of whom later became leading American petrologists as well as Victor Goldschmidt and Carl Alfred Osann 1859 1923 who became famous geochemists in Europe 7 In 1883 Adams published the first work in Canada that made full use of the petrographic microscope as well as a paper indicating that he had already begun the field work north of Montreal that later became the basis of his doctorate at Heidelberg He received a master s degree from McGill in 1884 and his Ph D from Heidelberg University in 1892 His doctoral studies on the Morin anorthosite showed that these rocks were not metamorphosed sediments as thought previously but were igneous rocks that had been intruded into Grenville sediments and later metamorphosed in the Grenville orogeny Career EditIn 1889 Adams was appointed Lecturer in Geology at McGill University He was appointed Logan Professor of Geology after the retirement of John William Dawson in 1892 and held this position until his own retirement in 1924 Though he was working full time at McGill he continued to spend summers in the field financed by the GSC In 1891 he began working on the Grenville of eastern Ontario and by the following year had started to work on the Haliburton Ontario area His work there carried out after 1896 with Alfred Barlow of the GSC was published as a GSC Memoir in 1908 and became a classic of Canadian geology The rocks which included unusual alkaline rocks were not merely mapped but studied in detail using petrographic and chemical methods and firm conclusions were drawn about their petrogenesis all of which was unusual for a GSC Memoir at that time At the same time Adams was also studying the peculiar petrological characteristics of a group of alkaline intrusions of much later geological age now known to be Early Cretaceous called by him the Monteregian Hills This work would be continued by his students notably Joseph Austin Bancroft 1882 1957 8 who succeeded Adams as Logan Professor at McGill 9 Inspired by his observations on the flow of metamorphosed limestones in the Grenville Adams began a series of pioneer experimental studies of the physical properties of rocks at high pressures and temperatures carried out in collaboration with John Thomas Nicholson Professor of Engineering at McGill 10 This was well before comparable work was carried out in Germany or the United States Though the experimental apparatus was primitive compared with that later developed at Harvard University and the Geophysical Laboratory in Washington D C Adams work was highly regarded by the newly founded Carnegie Institution for Science which supported him financially and attempted to persuade him to move to the Institution 4 11 12 Adams remained at McGill where he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and then as Vice Principal to the University He served as President of the International Geological Congress held in Toronto in 1913 13 and was President of the Geological Society of America in 1917 14 15 He received many honors during his career first becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1896 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Great Britain in 1907 4 a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1917 16 and awarded the Flavelle Medal which is given for outstanding contributions to biological science in 1937 The Frank Dawson Adams Building at McGill University is named in his honor A plaque in his honor was erected on the Redpath Museum on the McGill campus in 1950 He retired from McGill in 1924 and began to travel widely collecting books on the history of geology as well as rocks and minerals for McGill He published several papers on the geology of Ceylon and also on the history of geology culminating in his book Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences 1938 It became a classic and was reprinted by Dover Publications in 1954 He left his rare book collection 1581 monographs to McGill university References Edit Peter R Eakins Frank Dawson Adams The Canadian Encyclopedia Retrieved August 25 2019 Cartwright G F 2006 The High School of Montreal The High School of Montreal Archived from the original on August 7 2011 Retrieved April 19 2011 McGill archives a b c Flett J S November 1943 Frank Dawson Adams 1859 1942 Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 4 12 381 393 Bibcode 1943JG 51 212C doi 10 1098 rsbm 1943 0010 S2CID 154649431 Zaslow M 1975 Reading the Rocks The Story of the Geological Survey of Canada 1842 1872 Toronto Macmillan Young D A 2003 Mind Over Magma The Story of Igneous Petrology Princeton University Press p 154 165 Mahler J P and H W Pfefferkorn 1988 The influence of the University of Heidelberg on the development of geology in North America between 1860 and 1913 Earth Sciences History 7 33 43 Dr Joseph Bancroft The Glasgow Herald December 12 1957 History Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences McGill University Retrieved January 24 2013 Easkins P R 1972 Frank Dawson Adams Founder of modern structural geology Proceedings of the Geological Association of Canada 24 13 16 Geschwind C H 1995 Becoming interested in experiments American igneous petrologists and the Geophysical Laboratory 1905 1965 Earth Sciences History 14 47 61 Yochelson E L and H S Yoder Jr 1994 Founding of the Geophysical Laboratory 1901 1905 A scientific bonanza from perception of persistence Geological Society of America Bulletin 106 338 350 Middleton G V 2007 The 12th International Geological Congress Toronto 1913 Episodes 30 1 12 Fairchild Herman LeRoy 1932 The Geological Society of America 1888 1930 a Chapter in Earth Science History New York The Geological Society of America 232 p Eckel Edwin 1982 GSA Memoir 155 The Geological Society of America Life History of a Learned Society Boulder Colorado Geological Society of America Memoir 155 168 p ISBN 0 8137 1155 X Book of Members 1780 2010 Chapter A PDF American Academy of Arts and Sciences Retrieved April 1 2011 Further reading EditClark Thomas 1970 Adams Frank Dawson Dictionary of Scientific Biography Vol 1 New York Charles Scribner s Sons pp 50 53 ISBN 0 684 10114 9 External links Edit Wikisource has original works by or about Frank Dawson Adams Frank Dawson Adams at The Canadian Encyclopedia The Archives of Frank Dawson AdamsProfessional and academic associationsPreceded byWilliam Dawson LeSueur President of the Royal Society of Canada1913 1914 Succeeded byAdolphe Basile Routhier Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Frank Dawson Adams amp oldid 1106134100, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
