thumb|right|george m. dawson in may 1885 thumb|right|haida houses, taken by george m. dawson george mercer dawson , (august 1, 1849 &ndash; march 2, 1901) was a canadian scientist and surveyor. he was born in pictou, nova scotia, the eldest son of sir john william dawson, principal of mcgill university and his wife, lady margaret dawson.morgan, henry james types of canadian women and of women who are or have been connected with canada : (toronto, 1903)  by age 11, he was afflicted with tuberculosis of the spine (pott's disease) that resulted in a deformed back and stunted his growth. however, his physical limitations did not deter dawson from becoming one of canada's greatest scientists. tutors and his father provided his educational needs during his slow recovery from the illness. dawson later attended the high school of montreal and mcgill university (part-time) before moving to london to study geology and paleontology at the royal school of mines (now part of imperial college london) beginning in 1869. dawson graduated after three years with the highest marks in his class. dawson received an ll.d. from queen's university in 1890 and then from mcgill university in 1891. thumb|left|george m. dawson plaque dawson began his career in the 1870s as a professor of chemistry at morrin college in quebec city. he then performed extensive surveys of western canada in the 19th century beginning with the international boundary survey from 1872 to 1876. the result was a 387-page report called geology and resources of the region in the vicinity of the 49th parallel from the lake of the woods to the rocky mountains, with lists of plants and animals collected, and notes on the fossils from the killadeer badlands currently part of grasslands national park. this report established dawson as a respected scientist. during 1883 and 1884, dawson travelled through the canadian rockies where he was tasked by the canadian government to map out major mountains and mountain passes as well as significant rivers. some of the many peaks he discovered were mount assiniboine  and mount temple . as a result of his field research, a map of his work was published in 1886 covering the canadian rockies from the us border to red deer valley and kicking horse pass. in 1887, he led an expedition into the yukon, developing some of the first maps of what later became the separate territory. his r
1849_births 1901_deaths Alumni_of_Imperial_College_London Anglophone_Quebec_people Canadian_cartographers Canadian_geologists Companions_of_the_Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Infectious_disease_deaths_in_Ontario People_from_Pictou_County,_Nova_Scotia Persons_of_National_Historic_Significance_(Canada)