Face to Face: We built
Previous Personality Back to personalities Next page
William Logan, 1798-1875 Geologist - Biography
Biography Chronology To know more
Currently featuring
William Logan, 1856

William Logan, 1856
Painted by George Theodore Berthon
Gift of the Geological Survey of Canada
Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2007.171.223


William Logan’s signature
Library and Archives Canada
Original: NLW MS 21715-21716B
Reproduced with permission of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales


Man of science, institutions and exhibitions

Sir William Edmond Logan, first director of the Geological Survey of Canada, was a multidisciplinary scientist. Through his work in the field as well as in the laboratory, he contributed to the advancement of knowledge in geology and the other natural sciences, ultimately revealing Canada's economic potential.

For Logan, research was something to be shared. He participated in three international exhibitions. As early as 1856, he opened a small museum on Geological Survey premises that would spawn three national institutions, one of which is the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

quote We are all pretty-looking figures. I fancy I cut the nearest resemblance to a scarecrow. What with hair matted with spruce gum, a beard three months old, a pair of cracked spectacles, a red flannel shirt, a waistcoat with patches on the left pocket […] and trousers patched on one leg in four places […] quote

William Logan, 1856

Signature of William Logan

Previous Personality Back to personalities Next page
bottom