View source for Alexander du Toit

{{Short description|South African geologist (1878–1948)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Alexander Logie du Toit
| birth_date        = {{birth-date|14 March 1878}}
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1948|02|25|1878|03|14}}
| birth_place       = [[Newlands, Cape Town]], [[Cape Colony]]
| field             = Geologist
| work_institution  = [[Geological Commission of the Cape of Good Hope]] <br /> [[De Beers Consolidated Mines]]
| alma_mater        = {{ubl|{{nowrap|[[University of the Cape of Good Hope]]}}|[[Royal College of Science and Technology|Royal Technical College]]|[[Drury College]]|[[Royal College of Science]]}}
| doctoral_students = 
| prizes            = [[Murchison Medal]] (1933)
| footnotes         = 
}}
'''Alexander Logie du Toit''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Haughton | first1 = S. H. | title = Alexander Logie du Toit. 1878-1948 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1949.0004 | journal = [[Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 6 | issue = 18 | pages = 385–395 | year = 1949 | jstor = 768931| s2cid = 178877367 }}</ref> ({{IPAc-en|d|uː|ˈ|t|ɔɪ}} {{respell|doo|TOY|'}}; 14 March 1878 – 25 February 1948) was a geologist from [[South Africa]] and an early supporter of [[Alfred Wegener]]'s theory of [[continental drift]].<ref>{{Citation
  | last1 = Hancock
  | first1 = Paul L.
  | last2 = Skinner
  | first2 = Brian J.
  | last3 = Dineley
  | first3 = David L.
  | title = The Oxford Companion to The Earth
  | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
  | year = 2000
  | isbn = 0-19-854039-6
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hanc
  }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Du Toit was born in [[Newlands, Cape Town]] in 1878, and educated at the [[Diocesan College]] in [[Rondebosch]] and the [[University of the Cape of Good Hope]]. Encouraged by his grandfather, Captain Alexander Logie, he graduated in 1899 in [[mining engineering]] at the [[Royal College of Science and Technology|Royal Technical College]] in [[Glasgow]]. After a short period studying geology at the [[Royal College of Science]] in London, he returned to Glasgow to lecture in geology, mining and surveying at the [[University of Glasgow]] and the Royal Technical College.

==Career==
In 1903, du Toit was appointed as a geologist within the [[Geological Commission of the Cape of Good Hope]], and he began to develop an extensive knowledge of the geology of southern Africa by mapping large portions of the [[Karoo]] and its [[dolerite]] intrusions, publishing numerous papers on the subject. Subsequently, he mapped the entire Karoo System through the complete stratigraphy from Dwyka [[tillite]] to the [[basalt]] of the [[Drakensberg]]. He worked at a furious rate but was known for his painstaking meticulousness, as reflected in his 1937 book ''Our Wandering Continents''.<ref>du Toit, A.L. (1937) ''Our Wandering Continents; An Hypothesis of Continental Drifting'', Oliver & Boyd, London, UK</ref> It still bears reading for its creative and closely argued theses in the light of the geology of the day, and is soberingly consistent with modern principles of plate tectonics.

In 1920, du Toit joined the Union Irrigation Department as water geologist, and in 1927, he became chief consulting geologist to [[De Beers Consolidated Mines]] until his retirement in 1941.

In 1923, he received a [[Research funding|grant]] from the [[Carnegie Institution of Washington]], and used this to travel to eastern South America to study the geology of Argentina, [[Paraguay]] and Brazil. As is apparent from his remarks in "Our Wandering Continents", he had requested support for the expedition not on a whim but specifically to test his predictions of correspondences between the geology of both continents. In the event, he was able to demonstrate and follow the predicted continuation of specific features that he had already documented in Southern Africa, into the continent of South America. Although it might perhaps seem less impressive to the layman, that evidence was far more convincing to the geologist than was the matching of continental shelves.

In the light of his research, du Toit published a review of the [[stratigraphy|stratigraphic]] and [[radionuclide|radioisotope]] evidence from those regions that supported Wegener's ideas, ''A Geological Comparison of South America with South Africa'' (1927). His best-known publication, ''Our Wandering Continents'' (1937), expanded and improved this work and, departing somewhat from Wegener, proposed two original [[supercontinent]]s separated by the [[Tethys Ocean]], a [[Northern Hemisphere|northern]]/[[equator]]ial [[Laurasia]] and a [[Southern Hemisphere|southern]]/[[South Pole|polar]] [[Gondwanaland]].

==Awards and honours==
In 1933, du Toit was awarded the [[Murchison Medal]] by the [[Geological Society of London]], and in 1943, he became a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].

In 1949, the year after his death, the [[Geological Society of South Africa]] inaugurated a biennial lecture series in his honour that continues to the present day.<ref>[http://www.gssa.org.za/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=69 The De Beers Alex du Toit Memorial Lecture 2006], [[Geological Society of South Africa]], retrieved 9 July 2007</ref>

In 1973, a 75&nbsp;km [[Impact crater|crater]] on [[Mars]] (71.8°S, 49.7°W) was named "Du Toit" in recognition of his work.<ref>[http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/projects/bayes-group/Atlas/Mars/features/d/du_toit.html Du Toit crater] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060707220110/http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/projects/bayes-group/Atlas/Mars/features/d/du_toit.html |date=7 July 2006 }}, [http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/projects/bayes-group/Atlas/Mars/ Atlas of Mars] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222005617/http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/projects/bayes-group/Atlas/Mars/ |date=22 February 2006 }}, [[NASA]], retrieved 9 July 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.google.com/mars/#lat=-71.421929&lon=-49.658203&zoom=8&q=craters%20du%20Toit Du Toit crater], [[Google Maps#Google Mars|Google Mars]], retrieved 10 July 2007</ref>
{{Further|topic=the [[Devonian]] plant [[rhyniophyte]]|Dutoitea}}

==Significant works==
* du Toit, A.L. (1926) ''The Geology of South Africa'', Oliver & Boyd, London, UK
* du Toit, A.L. and Reed, F.R.C. (1927) ''A Geological Comparison of South America with South Africa'', Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, USA
* du Toit, A.L. (1937) ''Our Wandering Continents; An Hypothesis of Continental Drifting'', Oliver & Boyd, London, UK

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/chronob/DUTO1878.htm Biography] (Charles H. Smith, [[Western Kentucky University]])
* [http://www.hartrao.ac.za/geodesy/dutoit.gif Alexander du Toit's map of two ancient supercontinents] (more details [http://www.hartrao.ac.za/geodesy/tectonics.html here]; [[Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory]])
* [http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/index.php?html=/mss/newaids/BC722.HTM&msscollid=238 Alexander du Toit papers and letters archive] ([[University of Cape Town]])
{{FRS 1943}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Toit, Alexander}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:South African geologists]]
[[Category:Tectonicists]]
[[Category:University of Cape Town alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the South African Archaeological Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Geological Society of South Africa]]