John Douglas Mollard Biography

Geologist Biography

Dr. John Douglas (Jack) Mollard was an internationally recognized pioneer and leader in the use of airphotos and satellite images to interpret and evaluate Earth’s physical geography, geo-environments, natural resources and infrastructures. He had over 60 years of experience working on projects located in Canada and other parts of the world –and even Mars.

Jack Mollard was born on January 3, 1924 near Watrous, Saskatchewan. He obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1945, a Masters degree in civil engineering from Purdue University in 1947, and a Ph.D. degree from Cornell University in 1952. Jack’s experience in southwestern Saskatchewan – the setting of Illingworth Kerr’s painting of the Ross ranch – began in 1943 when as a summer student he was part of a survey crew for the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA). He returned to that part of Saskatchewan between 1947 and 1955, still with the PFRA.

In 1956, Jack formed his own consulting company, J.D. Mollard and Associates Ltd. In addition to over 5000 consulting projects that Jack and his firm have carried out during his lifetime, he alsos published two textbooks, over 100 technical papers and presented more than 80 workshops and short courses. He is the recipient of many honours and awards, including the Officer of the Order of Canada for pioneering applied multidisciplinary airphoto terrain analysis studies, the Massey Medal for achievements in mapping the geography of Canada, the Julian C. Smith Medal for achievements in the development of Canada, and the Sir John Kennedy Medal for contributions to the science of engineering.

Geological Fieldwork:

click on map to see Mollard’s geological fieldwork

Geoscience Field Area → Cret-Tertiary Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan

Acknowledgements Modal

The Foundations project has been worked on for many years and has been supported by a number of volunteers and organizations. Without their contributions the website and its content would never have seen the light of day.

Concept and initial reveal to the public

During the planning stages of the GeoCanada 2010 convention in Calgary, the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences, the newly formed umbrella organization that had arisen from the ashes of the Geoscience Council of Canada, wished both to engage the lay public as well as introduce itself to the members of its constituent societies and organizations. Ian Young and Jeff Packard came to the conclusion that a series of large-scale posters marrying iconic Canadian art with geosciences might prove an attractive, informative and a cost-effective means to reach both audiences. Landscapes were to be the unifying theme.

From the outset we reached out to the Glenbow Museum and Melanie Kjorlien, director of ___, graciously came onboard and the Glenbow provided vital in-kind support, loaned digital artwork from their collection and acted as intermediaries with other archives and art museums across Canada. Critically, Travis Lutely, an employee of the Glenbow, researched and wrote up the artistic critiques for the artwork we were going to feature as well as many of the artist biographies. This project is truly indebted to Melanie and Travis.

On the Earth Sciences side we contacted provincial and territorial geological surveys, the GSC, and key members of geo-societies across Canada (as well as colleagues closer at hand), seeking volunteers to provide content on pioneer geoscientists who might have mapped the landscapes that had also captured the imagination and talent of a specific artist. The following persons very kindly stepped forward to provide that content: Maurice Colpron, Neil Dawson, Jon Dudley, Karen Dudley, David Elliott, Phillipe Ferron, Paul Glomick, Fran Haidl, Stephen Howell, Gwen Martin, Rebecca Melenka, Jeff Packard, Lynden Penner, Charlie Roots, Ian Young, and Troy Zimmer.

A Web-based project

After a successful debut at the conference it was eventually decided that the project would most productively continue to exist as a web-based educational resource. In order to make this happen Foundations received generous grants from the Canadian Geological Foundation.

Subsequent contributions to the project have been made by Ollie Bonham, Eileen Van der Flier-Keller, and Marc Charest.

Loan of digital images

We gratefully acknowledge the loan of images from the following institutions: Glenbow Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, Archives and Library of Canada, Mackenzie Art Gallery, New York Historical Society, Geological Survey of Canada

On the geosciences side we must add a profuse thank you to Nick Eyles and Andrew Miall for permission to reproduce images from their book, Canada Rocks. In the same vein we very gratefully acknowledge the use of images from the book Four Billion years and Counting, published by the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences.

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John Douglas Mollard (1924 - 2017)

Project Description

Geologist Biography