Background
Spencer, J. W. was born on March 26, 1851 in Dundas, Ontario, Canada. Son of Joseph and Eliza Eleanor (Coe) Spencer.
Spencer, J. W. was born on March 26, 1851 in Dundas, Ontario, Canada. Son of Joseph and Eliza Eleanor (Coe) Spencer.
Bachelor of Applied Science, McGill University, Montreal, 1874. Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Göttingen, 1877. Doctor of Laws, from University of Alabama, 1913, from University of Manitoba, 1919.
Science master, Collegiate Institute, Hamilton, Ontario, 1877-1880. Professor geology and chemistry, King’s College, 1880-1882. Professor geology, University of Missouri, 1882-1887.
State geologist of Georgia, 1888-1893.
Geologist, West Indies, 1894-1904. Special commissioner Geological Survey Canada, 1905-1908.
First to show the Great Lake basins due to stream (not glacial) erosion, and to discover buried channels between them. Also to describe and name their four great glacial ancestors (Lakes Warren, Algonquin, Lundy, and Iroquois).
By scientific measurements, was first to investigate physical changes and determine age of Niagara Falls (39,000±4,000 years).
Demonstrated present stability of lake region, after measuring late maximum deformation and its direction. Correlating these earth movements with anomalies of gravity and submarine canyons off the coast, demonstrated recent great changes of level of land and sea. “Founder of the scientific history of the Great Lakes.
Discoverer of the evolution of the Falls of Niagara.
Founder of the science of submarine valleys”. Founder Museum Historic Geology, University of Manitoba.
Author reports on Georgia, Reconstruction of the Antillean Continent, Evolution of the Falls of Niagara, History of the Great Lakes, Age of the Shores of Lake Ontario and the Modem Saint Lawrence River, and many papers in scientific journals relating to above subjects.
Fellow Geological Society London, Geological Society America, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Married Katherine Sinclair Thomson, 1896.