Bill Mathews
| Bill Mathews | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1919 Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Died | March 3, 2003 |
| Residence | Canada |
| Nationality |
 Canadian |
| Fields | Geology, Volcanology |
| Institutions |
University of California, Berkeley, 1948–1951 University of British Columbia, 1951–2003 |
| Alma mater |
University of British Columbia, 1935–1941 University of California, Berkeley, 1946–1948 |
| Known for | Studying subglacial eruptions and volcano-ice interactions |
| Notable awards |
Willet G. Miller Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 1989 Career Achievement Award, Geological Association of Canada, 1994 |
William Henry Mathews (1919–2003) was a Canadian geologist, volcanologist, engineer, and professor. He is considered a pioneer in the study of subglacial eruptions and volcano-ice interactions in North America. Many of his publications continue to be regarded as classics in their field, even now several decades after they were written.
Bill Mathews was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1919. His childhood was marked by personal tragedy, as his mother and a brother died when he was two, and his father, Vancouver pioneer Thomas Mathews, died when he was 13.
Mathews attended King George Secondary School before entering the University of British Columbia in 1935, earning a Bachelor of Applied Science in geological engineering in 1940, followed by a Master of Applied Science with a major in petrology and a minor in physics in 1941. During college, he served as a student assistant for the Geological Survey of Canada from 1938 to 1941, and was also an instructor in the mountain infantry school of the Alpine Club of Canada, training personnel for the Canadian armed forces. After graduation, he worked as a mining engineer for the British Columbia Department of Mines from 1942 to 1946.
He then moved on to the University of California, Berkeley, completing his Ph.D. in June 1948 with a dissertation titled Geology of the Mount Garibaldi map-area, southwestern British Columbia. While at Berkeley, he also met and married his wife, Laura Lu Mathews served on the Berkeley faculty as an assistant professor from 1948 to 1951, and then returned to Canada to accept an associate professorship in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of British Columbia. He was promoted to full professor in 1959, served as department chairman from 1964 to 1971, and continued teaching until his retirement to professor emeritus status in 1984.
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