Cecil Edgar Tilley FRS (14 May 1894 – 24 January 1973) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n-British petrologist and geologist.

He was born in Unley, Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, the youngest child of John Thomas Edward Tilley, a civil engineer from London, and his wife South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

-born wife Catherine Jane (née Nicholas). He was educated at Adelaide High School

Adelaide High School

Adelaide High School is a coeducational state high school situated on the corner of West Terrace and Glover Avenue in the Adelaide Parklands. It is the first government high school in South Australia...

, then studied under William Rowan Browne

William Rowan Browne

William Rowan Browne was an Australian geologist, author of The Geology of the Commonwealth of Australia.-Early life:Browne was born in Lislea, County Londonderry, Ireland, both parents were school teachers...

 at the University of Adelaide

University of Adelaide

The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...

, and the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

. He went to England to work in the munitions industry during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 but returned after the Armistice.

He won a Exhibition of 1851 scholarship to the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 in 1919 where he studied under Alfred Harker

Alfred Harker (petrologist)

Alfred Harker FRS was an English geologist who specialised in petrology and interpretive petrography. He worked for the Geological Survey of Scotland and conducted extensive surveying and geological studies of western Scotland and the Isle of Skye...

. Most of the remainder of his career was spent in England, though spent 1938-9 in Australia and visited regularly after the War.

External links

• G. A. Chinner, Memoriaol of Cecil Edgar Tilley 14 May 1894 – 24 January 1973, American Mineralogist, Volume 59, pages 427-437, 1974
• http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160479b.htm