Ernst Kranck was born in 1898 in Birkala, Finland. He grew up in Finland and was educated at the University of Helsinki earning a B.A. in 1916, a Masters degree in 1923 and a PhD. in 1933. He spent the early part of his career working as a geologist in Finland, Siberia, Canada, Tierra del Fuego and Greenland. From 1930 to 1945 he served as Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of Helsinki. In 1945 he obtained a position as Professor of Geology at the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, specializing in geomorphology and petrology. In 1948 he came to McGill as a Visiting Professor of Geology in the Department of Geological Sciences, and joined the permanent staff in 1951 until his retirement in 1969. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1962. His research specialties were Precambrian geology, structural geology and petrology. Already before coming to Canada as a Visiting Professor he undertook many field trips to Canada, Lappland, Finland, Scotland and Switzerland. Most of his published works deal with his field work in Canada’s far north. Ernst Kranck died in 1989.