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| - Alexander Logie du Toit ("DOO-TOY") was a geologist from South Africa, and an early supporter of Alfred Wegener's theory of continental driftCite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content. Born in Newlands, Cape Town in 1878, du Toit was 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 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. 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. In 1920 he joined the Union Irrigation Department as water geologist, and in 1927 became chief consulting geologist to De Beers Consolidated Mines, a position he held to his retirement in 1941.In 1923, he received a 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. Struck by the similarities to South Africa, du Toit published a review of the stratigraphic and radioisotope evidence from these regions that supported Alfred Wegener's ideas, A Geological Comparison of South America with South Africa . A later book, Our Wandering Continents, expanded and improved this work, and, departing somewhat from Wegener, proposed two original supercontinents separated by the Tethys Ocean, a northern/equatorial Laurasia and a southern/polar Gondwanaland.In 1933, du Toit was awarded the Murchison Medal by the Geological Society of London, and in 1943 became a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1949, the year after du Toit's death, the Geological Society of South Africa inaugurated a biennial lecture series in his honour that continues to the present day. In 1973, a 75 km crater on Mars (71.8°S, 49.7°W) was named "Du Toit" in recognition of his work. (en)
- Alexander Logue Du Toit, (14 de Março de 1878 — 25 de Fevereiro de 1948), foi um famoso geólogo sul africano, cujo trabalho contribuiu para a maior aceitação da teoria da deriva continental das placas tectónicas. (pt)
- Alexander Logie du Toit (* 14. März 1878 in Rondebosch; † 25. Februar 1948 in Kapstadt) war ein südafrikanischer Geologe. Er war einer der wenigen Wissenschaftler, die in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts die von Alfred Wegener aufgestellte Theorie der Kontinentaldrift unterstützten. Seine Arbeit für die Geological Commission of the Cape of Good Hope und sein 1937 veröffentlichtes Buch Our Wandering continents trugen wesentlich dazu bei, dass das Konzept der "wandernden Kontinente" zunehmend Akzeptanz fand, bis die Plattentektonik im Laufe der 60er Jahre zur allgemein anerkannten Theorie der Vorgänge in der Erdkruste wurde. Nach ihm wurde auf dem Mars ein Krater und in der Antarktis ein Gebirge benannt. (de)
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