Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
Geochemistry in the Geological Survey of Canada 1842-1952
Geochemistry in the Geological Survey of Canada 1842-1952
Page Range: 129 – 141
The Geological Survey of Canada, the oldest scientific organization in the nation, was founded in 1842, at a time when major changes were taking place in the sciences of geology, chemistry and biology. Geochemistry was not yet recognized as a science in North America, although the word had been coined and the field outlined in 1838 by C. F. Schönbein, the Swiss chemist. Thomas Sterry Hunt (1826-1892) was appointed chemist and mineralogist to the Geological Survey in 1847 by Sir William Logan, first director of the Survey. For the next 25 years Hunt carried out geochemical research on most aspects of the science and added materially to the establishment of various geological principles. Sterry Hunt has been called the "Father of Chemical Geology, or Geochemistry, in North America." Following Hunt, many able men, including B. J. Harrington, F. D. Adams, G. C. Hoffman, and R. A. A. Johnston occupied the position of chemist and mineralogist to the Survey during the period 1872-1922. They were followed by E. Poitevin and H. V. Ellsworth who served from 1922 until 1952. H. V. Ellsworth laid the foundations of 20th Century geochemistry in the Geological Survey. His extensive studies of the distribution of rare elements (e.g., Li, Zr, Nb, U, Th, etc.) in Canadian minerals and rocks, and his studies of geochronology employing uranium-lead methods, had universal significance in geochemistry.
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