{{Refimprove|date=August 2025}} {{short description|Canadian geologist and volcanologist}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Bill Mathews |image = BillMathews-450.jpg |image_size = 300px |caption = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|2|2}} |birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia |death_date = {{death date and age|2003|3|3|1919|2|2}} |death_place = |citizenship = |ethnicity = |field = Geology, Volcanology |work_institution = University of California, Berkeley, 1948–1951<br />University of British Columbia, 1951–2003 |alma_mater = University of British Columbia, 1935–1941<br />University of California, Berkeley, 1946–1948 |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = Studying subglacial eruptions and volcano-ice interactions |prizes = Willet G. Miller Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 1989<br />Career Achievement Award, Geological Association of Canada, 1994 |religion = |footnotes = }} <!-- FAIR USE of BillMathews-450.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BillMathews-450.jpg for rationale --> {{About|the Canadian natural scientist|American Civil War veteran who received the Congressional Medal of Honor|William H. Mathews (soldier)}} '''William Henry Mathews''' (1919–2003) was a Canadian geologist, volcanologist, engineer, and professor. He is considered a pioneer in the study of subglacial eruptions and volcano-ice interactions in North America. Many of his publications continue to be regarded as classics in their field.{{By whom|date=August 2025}}

==Biography== Bill Mathews was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1919. His mother and a brother died when he was two; his father, Vancouver pioneer Thomas Mathews, died when he was 13.

Mathews attended King George Secondary School before entering the University of British Columbia in 1935, earning a Bachelor of Applied Science in geological engineering in 1940, followed by a Master of Applied Science with a major in petrology and a minor in physics in 1941. During college, he served as a student assistant for the Geological Survey of Canada from 1938 to 1941, and was also an instructor in the mountain infantry school of the Alpine Club of Canada, training personnel for the Canadian armed forces. After graduation, he worked as a mining engineer for the British Columbia Department of Mines from 1942 to 1946.

He then moved to the University of California, Berkeley, completing his Ph.D. in June 1948 with a dissertation titled ''Geology of the Mount Garibaldi map-area, southwestern British Columbia''. While at Berkeley he met and married his wife, Laura Lu Mathews, served on the Berkeley faculty as an assistant professor from 1948 to 1951, and then returned to Canada to accept an associate professorship in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of British Columbia. He was promoted to full professor in 1959, served as department chairman from 1964 to 1971, and continued teaching until his retirement to professor emeritus status in 1984.

Mathews is credited with proposing the name of Tetrahedron Peak, which he climbed as a member of the Alpine Club of Canada. The name was adopted on 5 April 1956.<ref>{{Cite bcgnis | id=15095 | access-date=2025-08-12 }}</ref>

Mathews received the Willet G. Miller Medal for "outstanding research in any branch of the earth sciences" from the Royal Society of Canada in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-21 |title=Past Award Winners |url=https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners |access-date=2025-08-12 |website=The Royal Society of Canada |language=en}}</ref> After his retirement from teaching duties, he maintained an active research program and began writing a book on the geology of southern British Columbia, working part-time on the project until his death in 2003. The book was published posthumously in 2005 as ''Roadside Geology of Southern British Columbia''.

==Scientific research== [[Image:GaribaldiLake-PanoramaRidge.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Garibaldi Provincial Park was a major focus of Bill Mathews' scientific career. Garibaldi Lake (foreground), The Table (behind lake), and Mount Garibaldi (background) were each among the subjects of his numerous publications.]]

Mathews scientific work embraced a broad spectrum of topics, including volcanoes, glaciers, regional geomorphology, landslides, hydrogeology, stratigraphy, coal geology, and mineral deposits. But his most influential work was in the fields of subglacial eruptions and volcano-ice interactions. He discovered several ideal field laboratories for this research in his home province of British Columbia, including the numerous volcanoes in Garibaldi Provincial Park just north of Vancouver and the remote Tuya Volcanic Field in far northern British Columbia. While still in graduate school at Berkeley in 1947, he published a paper, "Tuyas, Flat-Topped Volcanoes in Northern British Columbia", in which he coined the term "tuya" to refer to the distinctive, flat-topped, steep-sided volcanoes formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. He took the name from Tuya Butte, a near-ideal specimen of the type, and this name has since become standard worldwide among volcanologists in referring to and writing about these volcanic formations. Late in his career, other scientists named a previously unnamed tuya in the Tuya Volcanic Field in honor of him as Mathews Tuya.

Mathews published his first article, titled "Geology of the Garibaldi Lake area", in the ''Canadian Alpine Journal'' in 1938 when he was only 19 years old. He would go on to author more than 100 published scientific papers and reports over the next six decades. A large portion of this body of work is devoted to the numerous fascinating volcanic, glacial, and limnological features of Garibaldi Provincial Park, which he examines, analyzes, and interprets in meticulous detail and with far-reaching insight.

==Bibliography==

===Books and theses=== * {{cite book |last=Mathews |first=Bill |author2=Monger, Jim |title=Roadside Geology of Southern British Columbia |publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company |year=2005 |isbn=0-87842-503-9}} (includes biographical sketch) * {{cite book |last=Mathews |first=William H. |title=Garibaldi Geology: A popular guide to the geology of the Garibaldi Lake area |publisher=Geological Association of Canada |year=1975}} * {{cite book |last=Mathews |first=William Henry |title=Geology of the Mount Garibaldi map-area, southwestern British Columbia |publisher=Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley |year=1948 |pages=229 pp}} * {{cite book |last=Mathews |first=William Henry |title=Geology of the Ironmask Batholith |publisher=Thesis (Master's)--University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC |year=1941}}

===Selected significant articles=== * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Geology of the Garibaldi Lake area [British Columbia] |journal=Canadian Alpine Journal |volume=25 |pages=107–112 |year=1938}} * {{cite journal |doi=10.2475/ajs.245.9.560 |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Tuyas, flat-topped volcanoes in northern British Columbia |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=245 |issue=9 |pages=560–570 |date=September 1, 1947 |url=http://www.ajsonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/245/9/560 |bibcode=1947AmJS..245..560M |url-access=subscription |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |access-date=March 18, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929220601/http://www.ajsonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/245/9/560 |url-status=dead }} * {{cite journal |doi=10.2475/ajs.249.11.830 |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=The Table, a flat-topped volcano in southern British Columbia |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=249 |issue=11 |pages=830–841 |date=November 1, 1951 |url=http://www.ajsonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/249/11/830 |bibcode=1951AmJS..249..830M |doi-access=free }} (see The Table) * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Historic and prehistoric fluctuations of alpine glaciers in the Mount Garibaldi map-area, southwestern British Columbia |journal=Journal of Geology |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=357–380 |year=1951 |doi=10.1086/625873 |bibcode=1951JG.....59..357M|s2cid=128970582 }} * {{cite journal |doi=10.2475/ajs.250.2.81 |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Mount Garibaldi, a supraglacial Pleistocene volcano in southwestern British Columbia |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=250 |issue=2 |pages=81–103 |date=February 1, 1952 |url=http://www.ajsonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/250/2/81|bibcode=1952AmJS..250...81M |doi-access=free }} * {{cite journal |doi=10.2475/ajs.250.8.553 |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Ice-dammed lavas from Clinker Mountain, southwestern British Columbia |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=250 |issue=8 |pages=553–565 |date=August 1, 1952 |url=http://www.ajsonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/250/8/553|bibcode=1952AmJS..250..553M |url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Glacier study for the mountaineer |journal=Canadian Alpine Journal |volume=36 |pages=161–167 |year=1953}} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Permafrost and its occurrence in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia |journal=Canadian Alpine Journal |volume=38 |pages=94–98 |year=1955}} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Physical limnology and sedimentation in a glacial lake [Garibaldi Lake] |journal=Geological Society of America Bulletin |volume=67 |issue=5 |pages=537–552 |url=http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2F0016-7606(1956)67%5B537%3APLASIA%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |year=1956 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1956)67[537:PLASIA]2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=1956GSAB...67..537M |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217041400/http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2F0016-7606(1956)67%5B537:PLASIA%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |archive-date=2012-02-17 |url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |doi=10.2475/ajs.255.6.400 |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Petrology of Quaternary volcanics of the Mount Garibaldi map-area, southwestern British Columbia |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=255 |issue=6 |pages=400–415 |date=June 1, 1957 |url=http://www.ajsonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/255/6/400|bibcode=1957AmJS..255..400M |doi-access=free }} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Geology of the Mount Garibaldi map-area, southwestern British Columbia, Canada; Part 1, Igneous and metamorphic rocks |journal=Geological Society of America Bulletin |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=161–178 |url=http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2F0016-7606%281958%2969%5B161%3AGOTMGM%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |year=1958 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1958)69[161:GOTMGM]2.0.CO;2|bibcode=1958GSAB...69..161M|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Geology of the Mount Garibaldi map-area, southwestern British Columbia, Canada; Part 2, Geomorphology and Quaternary volcanic rocks |journal=Geological Society of America Bulletin |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=179–198 |url=http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2F0016-7606%281958%2969%5B179%3AGOTMGM%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |year=1958 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1958)69[179:GOTMGM]2.0.CO;2|bibcode=1958GSAB...69..179M|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |last=Williams |first=P. M. |author2=Mathews, W. H. |author3=Pickard, G. L. |title=A lake in British Columbia containing old sea-water |journal=Nature |volume=191 |issue=4790 |pages=830–832 |year=1961 |doi=10.1038/191830b0 |bibcode=1961Natur.191..830W|s2cid=4256946 }} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |title=Two Self-Dumping Ice-Dammed Lakes in British Columbia |journal=Geographical Review |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=46–52 |year=1965 |jstor=212854|doi=10.2307/212854|bibcode=1965GeoRv..55...46M }} * {{cite journal |last=Nasmith |first=H. |author2=Mathews, W. H. |author3=Rouse, G. E. |title=Bridge River ash and some other Recent ash beds in British Columbia |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=163–170 |year=1967 |doi=10.1139/e67-007 |bibcode=1967CaJES...4..163N }} * {{cite journal |last=Mackay |first=J. R. |author2=Mathews, W. H. |title=Needle ice striped ground |journal=Arctic and Alpine Research |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=79–84 |year=1974 |jstor=1550372|doi=10.2307/1550372}} * {{cite journal |last=Mackay |first=J. R. |author2=Mathews, W. H. |title=Movement of sorted stripes, The Cinder Cone, Garibaldi Park, B. C., Canada |journal=Arctic and Alpine Research |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=347–359 |year=1974 |jstor=1550330|doi=10.2307/1550330}} * {{cite journal |last=Mackay |first=J. R. |author2=Mathews, W. H. |title=Orientation of soil stripes caused by needle ice |journal=Journal of Glaciology |volume=14 |issue=71 |pages=329–331 |year=1975 |bibcode=1975JGlac..14..329M |doi=10.1017/S002214300002181X |doi-access=free }} * {{cite journal |last=Moore |first=D. P. |author2=Mathews, W. H. |title=The Rubble Creek landslide, southwestern British Columbia |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=1039–1052 |year=1978 |doi=10.1139/e78-112 |bibcode=1978CaJES..15.1039M}} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first=W. H. |author2=Bustin, R. M. |title=Why do the Smoking Hills smoke? |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=21 |issue=7 |pages=737–742 |year=1984 |doi=10.1139/e84-080 |bibcode=1984CaJES..21..737M}} * {{cite journal |last=Mathews |first =W. H. |author2=Clague, J. J. |title=The record of jokulhlaups from Summit Lake, northwestern British Columbia |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=499–508 |year=1993 |doi=10.1139/e93-039 |bibcode=1993CaJES..30..499M}}

==Honors and memberships== {{div col|colwidth=32em}} * Willet G. Miller Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 1989 * Career Achievement Award, Geological Association of Canada, 1995 * Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada * Fellow of the Geological Society of America * American Geophysical Union * Geological Association of Canada * Phi Beta Kappa * Sigma Xi * Alpine Club of Canada * British Glaciological Society * Arctic Institute of North America * Natural History Society of British Columbia {{div col end}}

==References== {{reflist}} * {{cite web |title=UBC Earth & Ocean Sciences: Alumni Newsletter, 2002-2003 |url=http://www.eos.ubc.ca/home/alumni/2003.pdf |access-date=2007-04-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706210935/http://www.eos.ubc.ca/home/alumni/2003.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-06 }} * {{cite web |title=UBC Archives - W.H. Mathews fonds - Description |url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/u_arch/mathews.html |access-date=2007-03-18}} * {{cite web |title=UBC Student Services - Senate - Memorial Minute |url=http://www.students.ubc.ca/senate/minutes.cfm?article=minute02-03/0503/0503.html |access-date=2007-03-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118110222/http://www.students.ubc.ca/senate/minutes.cfm?article=minute02-03%2F0503%2F0503.html |archive-date=2007-11-18 }} * {{cite web |title=RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada : Willet G. Miller Medal |url=http://www.rsc.ca/index.php?lang_id=1&page_id=160 |access-date=2007-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061229140157/http://www.rsc.ca/index.php?lang_id=1&page_id=160 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=2006-12-29}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, William Henry}} Category:1919 births Category:2003 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian geologists Category:Canadian glaciologists Category:Canadian volcanologists Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Category:University of British Columbia alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:King George Secondary School alumni Category:Fellows of the Geological Society of America Category:Scientists from Vancouver