Canadian geophysicist

An early proponent of the continental drift theory, J. Tuzo Wilson is chiefly remembered for his proposition that transform faults were present in the ocean floor, an idea that led to conclusive evidence that the sea floor and the earth's crust are constantly moving. Wilson later hypothesized that an ancestral Atlantic Ocean basin had opened and closed during the Paleozoic Era, in turn creating the huge land mass known as Pangaea. This theory helps account for the presence of the Appalachian mountains in eastern North America, the striking similarity of many rock features in Western Europe and North America, and parallel cyclical developments on the seven continents.

John Tuzo Wilson was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His father, John Armitstead Wilson, was an engineer who held a civil service position. His mother, Henrietta Tuzo, was an avid mountain climber who...