John Johnston O'Neill
Encyclopedia
John Johnston O'Neill was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

 and academic.

Born in Port Colborne
Port Colborne, Ontario
Port Colborne is a city on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of southern Ontario, Canada...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, the son of Thomas John O'Neill, an Irish immigrant, and Mary Jane Henderson, O'Neill received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in geology and mining from McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

 in 1909 and 1910. He earned a Ph.D. in structural geology and petrography
Petrography
Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. Petrographic descriptions start with the field notes at the...

 from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1912. From 1912 to 1913, he did postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin.

O'Neill worked for the Geological Survey of Canada from 1909 to 1913 and from 1914 to 1920. In 1913, he spent a year as a geologist on Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.-Early life:Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had emigrated from Iceland to Manitoba two years earlier...

's Canadian Arctic Expedition. In 1920, he worked for the Whitehall Petroleum Co. in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. In 1921, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Geology at McGill University. In 1929, he became Head of the Department of Geology. From 1935 to 1939, he was Dean of Science. He also served as Dean of Graduate Studies and Research (1938-1942) and Dean of Engineering (1942-1952). From 1948 to 1952, he was a Vice-Principal. He retired in 1952.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...

, he was its president from 1950 to 1951. He was a Founder, Governor, and Board Chairman of the Arctic Institute of North America
Arctic Institute of North America
The Arctic Institute of North America is mandated to study the North American and circumpolar Arctic in the areas of natural science, social science, arts and the humanities. In addition, it acquires, preserves and disseminates information on environmental, physical, and social conditions in the...

. In 1999 a new mineral from Mont Saint-Hilaire
Mont Saint-Hilaire
Mont Saint-Hilaire , is an isolated hill, high, in the Montérégie region of southern Quebec. It is about thirty kilometres east of Montreal, and immediately east of the Richelieu River. It is one of the Monteregian Hills...

 was named "Oneillite" in his honour.

He died in Ottawa in 1966.
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