Abstract
SIR JAMES HECTOR, the first director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand, a post he held from 1865 until 1905, was born at Edinburgh a century ago on March 16. The son of a writer to the signet, he was educated at Edinburgh Academy and the University and in 1856 took the degree of M.D. After acting for short periods as assistant to Edward Forbes and Sir James Simpson, in 1857 he was, through Murchison, appointed surgeon and geologist to Capt. John Palliser's expedition to British North America. During this expedition he discovered Hector Pass in the Rocky Mountains and directed attention to the evidence of glaciation and the existence of erratic blocks. In 1860 he sailed for New Zealand to take up the appointment of geologist to the Government of Otago. The services of von Haast (1824-87) and von Hochstetter (1829-84) had already been secured by the colonial authorities, and it was by these three men, together with J. W. Hutton (1836-1905), that the geology of the Islands was first unravelled. In 1865 Hector became director of the Geological Survey and of the Colonial Museum at Wellington, which remained his headquarters for the rest of his life. He was also head of the meteorological service and Chancellor of the University of New Zealand. Elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1866, he was awarded the Lyell medal of the Geological Society in 1875 and in 1887 was made K.C.M.G. In 1891 he served as president of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. He died at Wellington on November 5, 1907.
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Sir James Hector (1834–1907). Nature 133, 407 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133407b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133407b0