John William Dawson

Sir John William Dawson was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and studied geology at the University of Edinburgh. Exploring the fossil cliffs of Joggins, Nova Scotia, alongside Sir Charles Lyell, Dawson discovered Hylonomus lyelli in 1852 inside a fossilized tree trunk, which remains the earliest known true reptile in the fossil record.

Appointed Principal of McGill University in 1855, Dawson transformed the struggling, impoverished college into an internationally renowned research institution over thirty-eight years. In 1882, the Marquess of Lorne selected Dawson as the inaugural President of the Royal Society of Canada. He founded the Redpath Museum on McGill campus.