William Edmond Logan

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William Edmond Logan

1798-1875

Canadian geologist and first director of the Geological Survey of Canada, 1842-69. Logan's geological career began in Wales, where he made detailed maps and established the origin of coal deposits. Once in Canada he personally made extensive field investigations of the colony's Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks, and he built the survey into an institutional success. After his exhibit of Canadian mineral resources in Paris in 1855, Logan was knighted and received the Geological Society of London's Wollaston Medal.