A native of Toronto, Hoffman was a Senior Research Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada (1969-92), Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University (1994-2008), and Professor of Geology at The University of Victoria (1992-94) where he has been an Adjunct Professor since 2008. He was an early proponent of Precambrian plate tectonics, based on field research in northern Canada (1961-91), and the leading advocate of Snowball Earth, based on field research in northern Namibia (1993-2023). He is a recipient of career-achievement awards from learned societies on four continents, most recently the 2024 Kyoto Prize for Basic Sciences from the Inamori Foundation of Japan.
