James Hector
Sir James Hector ( born March 16, 1834 in Edinburgh, Scotland, † November 6, 1907 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand) was Scottish- New Zealand physician, geologist, researcher, leader of various institutes and New Zealand from 1885 to 1903 Chancellor of the University of New Zealand.
Early years
James Hector was ( lawyer provided by the Crown with special privileges ), the son of Mr and Mrs Margaret Macrosty and her husband Hector Alexander, a lawyer and writer to the signet on March 16, 1834 born in Edinburgh.
After visiting the Edinburgh Academy and Royal High School in Edinburgh, Hector worked 14 years for a short time in his father's office. Then his father to work for three years under the care of the insurance expert James Watson undertook. Even in the natural sciences interested, he visited during this time the University and the Edinburgh School of Art in November 1852 he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh for the subject of medicine, but took while studying also lectures in botany with Professor John Hutton Balfour and zoology part of Professor Edward Forbes.
After graduating as a medical doctor in 1856, Hector was in the following year the opportunity to participate in an expedition to Canada. Renowned Scottish biologists and geologists became aware of him before because of his lines. A recommendation of the geologist Roderick Murchison, a former director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, it eventually helped to be in March 1857 part of the expedition team.
Canada
Under the command of Captain John Palliser, who was to explore the west of Canada on behalf of the British government took over James Hector, a geologist and physician responsible for the scientific part of the company. The expedition lasted four years. In the summer months they explored the open prairies and in the autumn months of the Rocky Mountains. Over the winter months, Hector made with a small group snowshoe walking on the road, slept outside at night in the snow and ate pemmican.
James Hector explored four passes through the Canadian Rockies. A pass he gave the name Kicking Horse Pass, after he had already called the river, on which he was kicked in the chest by his horse Kicking Horse River. The Kicking Horse Pass was later selected by the Canadian Railway to bridge the Rockies from east to west.
At the end of the expedition Hector examined the coal fields of Vancouver Iceland and the gold fields of British Columbia. A detour took him to the gold fields of California ranging in the north of Mexico. Finally Over Panama and the West Indies, he traveled back to England and in 1861 awarded for his services to the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.
That same year, Hector got two offers from Murchison to choose from. He could decide to go as a geologist and commissioner of the government to Kashmir as a geologist or the provincial government of Otago in New Zealand. He took up the challenge to New Zealand.
New Zealand
On April 15, 1862, he took up his new position in Dunedin, Otago and examined in only three years, the entire province of Otago, mountain regions and the West Coast with the sounds of a part of Fiordland. Despite the beginning of the Otago Gold Rush, Hector focused on the geological exploration of the region, created a collection of 500 specimens of rocks, fossils and minerals. He also created an extensive map of the region. In 1864 he was commissioned to travel the entire colony and prepare an exhibition of his results in Dunedin for the following year. It was the first exhibition of its kind in New Zealand.
1865 Hector was appointed director of the New Zealand Geological Survey, was transferred in 1866 a Fellow of the Royal Society in London and got 1868, the line was founded on October 10, 1867 New Zealand Institute on June 7. He kept the lead until 1903.
On December 19, 1868 married James Hector his wife Georgiana, eldest daughter of the New Zealand politician and Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, Sir David Monro.
In his years in New Zealand, he wrote 45 scientific articles in the fields of geology, botany and zoology, produced in 1870 the catalog for the Colonial Museum, 1890 catalog of the library of the Colonial Museum, created the Handbook of New Zealand, 1879 for the Sydney International Exhibition and in 1880 a second edition for the Melbourne International Exhibition. Further revised editions followed in 1883 and 1886.
By restructuring Hector was 1892, the leadership of the Geological Survey of New Zealand from 1903 and the management of the New Zealand Institute. Deployed in October 1903 in retirement, James Hector went at the invitation of the Canadian government on the road again. Accompanied by his son Douglas, he traveled once again the regions of Canada, which he could explore 46 years earlier in his expedition. But the tragic death of his son let him return in 1904 as a broken man back to New Zealand.
1905 Hector was elected President of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the successor of the New Zealand Institute was. He held the position until his death.
Awards
Hector Medal
The Hector Medal, English Hector Medal called, was first awarded in 1910 with the founding of the Hector Memorial Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand. James Hector in honor of the medal has been awarded annually rotating at scientists from various disciplines for their special contributions. Between 2001 and 2005 they changed over to a biennial award, but returned in 2005 back to the annual awarding of the prize.