Douglas Mawson
Also known as Sir Douglas Mawson
Australian geologist and explorer of the Antarctic (1882-1958)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1882
- Died
- 1958
- Works
- 23
Top works
- The Antarctic
- Home of the Blizzard, Being the Story of the Australian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
- The Home of the Blizzard; Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Volume; Volume 2
- Home of the Blizzard; Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Volume; Volume 1
- The Home of the Blizzard; Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Volume; Volume 1
via Open Library + Wikidata
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Female
- Origin
- Cumbria
Discography
via · CC0
~40 min read
Article
Sir Douglas Mawson (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. He is known for being a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton (with whom he undertook the Nimrod Expedition in 1907–1909). However most of his geological work was undertaken in South Australia, in particular the Precambrian rocks of the Flinders Ranges.
Mawson was born in England and was brought to Australia as an infant. He completed degrees in mining engineering and geology at the University of Sydney, after which he was appointed lecturer in petrology and mineralogy at the University of Adelaide in 1906. From 1903 onwards he undertook significant geological exploration, including an expedition to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in 1903, and later in the Flinders Ranges and far north-east of South Australia and over the border near Broken Hill in New South Wales. He was interested in the commercial applications of geology, in particular the radioactive minerals being used in medical applications in the early 1900s. He identified and first described the mineral davidite in 1906, and later became an expert in the geochemistry of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Much of his later work was focused on the Precambrian rocks Adelaide Superbasin (which included the Flinders and Barrier Ranges), where there are significant fossil beds showing the beginnings of animal life on Earth.
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1882 births1958 deaths20th-century Australian geologistsAustralasian Antarctic ExpeditionAustralian Antarctic scientistsAustralian explorersAustralian explorers of AntarcticaAustralian fellows of the Royal SocietyAustralian Knights BachelorAustralian Officers of the Order of the British EmpireEnglish emigrants to colonial AustraliaFellows of the Australian Academy of Science