University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences
Encyclopedia
The Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge
is the University of Cambridge
's Earth Sciences department. The main location of the department is at the Downing Site, Downing St. The Bullard Laboratories, located in West Cambridge
on Madingley Rd, and the Godwin Laboratory
, in the New Museums Site are satellite departments of the main building. The department incorporates the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
.
The Department's history can be traced back to 1731 when the 1st Woodwardian Professor of Geology
was appointed, in accordance with the bequest of John Woodward.
The present Department of Earth Sciences was fomed by an amalgamation of the Department of Geology, Department of Geodesy and Geophysics and the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology in 1980.
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
is 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...
's Earth Sciences department. The main location of the department is at the Downing Site, Downing St. The Bullard Laboratories, located in West Cambridge
West Cambridge
West Cambridge is a university site to the west of Cambridge city centre in England. As part of the West Cambridge Master Plan, several of the University of Cambridge's departments have relocated to the West Cambridge site from the centre of town due to overcrowding...
on Madingley Rd, and the Godwin Laboratory
University of Cambridge Godwin Laboratory
The Godwin Laboratory is a research facility at the University of Cambridge. It was originally set up to investigate radiocarbon dating and its applications, and was one of the first laboratories to determine a radiocarbon calibration curve...
, in the New Museums Site are satellite departments of the main building. The department incorporates the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, opened in 1904, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge in England. It is part of the Department of Earth Sciences and is located on the University's Downing Site in Downing Street, central Cambridge, England.The Sedgwick has a collection of more...
.
The Department's history can be traced back to 1731 when the 1st Woodwardian Professor of Geology
Woodwardian Professor of Geology
The Woodwardian Professor of Geology is a professorship held in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. It was founded by John Woodward in 1728...
was appointed, in accordance with the bequest of John Woodward.
The present Department of Earth Sciences was fomed by an amalgamation of the Department of Geology, Department of Geodesy and Geophysics and the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology in 1980.
Notable Fellows and Former Fellows
- Simon Conway MorrisSimon Conway MorrisSimon Conway Morris FRS is an English paleontologist made known by his detailed and careful study of the Burgess Shale fossils, an exploit celebrated in Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould...
FRS - Michael BickleMichael BickleMichael James Bickle FRS is a British geophysicist, and professor at University of Cambridge.He won a 2003 Coke Medal, from the Geological Society.His research combines field research projects, and physical modelling,including carbon capture and storage....
FRS - Harry Elderfield FRSHenry ElderfieldProfessor Henry "Harry" Elderfield, FRS, , is Professor of Ocean Geochemistry and Palaeoclimate Research at the Godwin Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University...
- David HodellDavid A. HodellDavid A. Hodell is a geologist and paleoclimatologist. He currently holds the position of Woodwardian Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a fellow of Clare College. Previously, he taught at the University of Florida from...
(Woodwardian Professor of GeologyWoodwardian Professor of GeologyThe Woodwardian Professor of Geology is a professorship held in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. It was founded by John Woodward in 1728...
) - James JacksonJames A. JacksonJames Anthony Jackson, FRS, , is Professor of Active Tectonics and Head of Bullard Laboratories, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University. He made his name in geophysics, using earthquake source seismology to examine how continents are deformed...
FRS (Head of Department) - Nick McCave (Former Woodwardian Professor of GeologyWoodwardian Professor of GeologyThe Woodwardian Professor of Geology is a professorship held in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. It was founded by John Woodward in 1728...
) - Dan McKenzie FRS CH
- Ekhard Salje FRS Ekhard SaljeProfessor Ekhard Karl Hermann Salje, FRS, , is Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology and former Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University.-Education and career:...
- Bob White FRSBob White FRSRobert White is Professor of Geophysics in the Earth Sciences department at Cambridge University and was elected a FRS in 1994.-Biography:...
Notable alumni
- Stuart AgrellStuart Olof AgrellStuart Olof Agrell was an outstanding optical mineralogist and pioneer collaborator applying the electron microprobe to petrology. His involvement in the Apollo program brought him to the attention of the British media and public.Agrell was born in Ruislip, Middlesex to a Scandinavian father and...
- Sir David Attenborough CHDavid AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
- John AudenJohn Bicknell AudenJohn Bicknell Auden was an English geologist and explorer, and an official with the World Health Organization.Auden was born in York, the second son of George Augustus Auden and older brother of W. H. Auden. He was educated at St Edmund's School, Hindhead, Surrey, then at Marlborough College and...
- George Band OBEGeorge BandGeorge Christopher Band OBE ) was an English mountaineer.Band was born in Taiwan and educated at Eltham College...
- Derek Briggs FRSDerek BriggsDerek Ernest Gilmor Briggs is an Irish paleontologist and taphonomist based at Yale University. Briggs is one of three paleontologists who were key in the reinterpretation of the fossils of the Burgess Shale.-Professional achievements:...
- Euan ClarksonEuan ClarksonEuan N.K. Clarkson FRSE is a British palaeontologist and writer.-Career:Euan Clarkson studied geology at the University of Cambridge and had a long career as a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland...
- Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
- Gertrude EllesGertrude EllesGertrude Lilian Elles MBE was a British geologist, known for her work on graptolites.Born in Wimbledon, she was educated at Wimbledon High School and Newnham College, Cambridge, where in 1895 she received first class honours in the Natural Science tripos...
- Richard Fortey FRSRichard ForteyRichard A. Fortey FRS is a British palaeontologist and writer.-Career:Richard Fortey studied geology at the University of Cambridge and had a long career as a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. Prof. Fortey’s research interests include, above all, trilobites...
- Sir Vivian Fuchs FRSVivian FuchsSir Vivian Ernest Fuchs FRS was an English explorer whose expeditionary team completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958.- Biography :...
- Alfred Harker FRSAlfred 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...
- W. Brian HarlandW. Brian HarlandW. Brian Harland was a geologist at the University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences, England. In 1968, he was honoured with the Royal Geographical Society Gold Medal for Arctic exploration and research.- Personal background :...
- Dorothy Hill FRSDorothy HillDorothy Hill, AC, CBE, FAA, FRS . She was an Australian geologist, the first female professor at an Australian university, and the first female president of the Australian Academy of Science.-Education:...
- Ted Irving FRS
- John E Marr FRSJohn Edward MarrJohn Edward Marr FGS FRS was a British geologist. After studying at Lancaster Royal Grammar School he matriculated to St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with First Class Honours in 1878...
- Sir Mark Moody-StuartMark Moody-StuartSir Mark Moody-Stuart was appointed non-executive chairman of Anglo American PLC in 2001 and is an ex-chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and a director of HSBC Holdings and of Accenture. He is a Chairman, Foundation for the Global Compact and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Global...
- Yin Yin NweYin Yin NweYin Yin Nwe is a Burmese geologist. She has held important positions with UNICEF since 1991, and was appointed UNICEF Representative to China on 1 December 2006.-Biography:...
- Sanjaasürengiin OyuunSanjaasürengiin OyuunSanjaasuren Oyun , also transcribed S. Oyun, is a prominent Mongolian politician. She is the leader of the Civil Will Party, and has been a Member of Parliament of Mongolia since 1998. She is also a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and is the current head of the Zorig Foundation...
- Adam SedgwickAdam SedgwickAdam Sedgwick was one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Devonian period of the geological timescale...
- Fred Vine FRS
- Lawrence Wager FRSLawrence WagerLawrence Rickard Wager, commonly known as Bill Wager, was a British geologist, explorer and mountaineer, described as "one of the finest geological thinkers of his generation" and best remembered for his work on the Skaergaard intrusion in Greenland, and for his attempt on Mount Everest in...
- Gino WatkinsGino WatkinsHenry George "Gino" Watkins FRGS was a British Arctic explorer.Born in London, he was educated at Lancing College and acquired a love of mountaineering and the outdoors from his father through holidays in the Alps, the Tyrol and the English Lake District...
- Leonard WillsLeonard Johnston WillsProfessor Leonard Johnston Wills – known as ‘Jack’ to friends and family – was one of the leading British geologists of his generation...
- Sir James Wordie CBEJames WordieSir James Mann Wordie, CBE was a Scottish polar explorer and geologist.Wordie was born at Partick, Glasgow, in the former county of Lanarkshire in Scotland. He studied at The Glasgow Academy and obtained a BSc in geology from University of Glasgow. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge...
Notable former staff
- Edward Bullard FRSEdward BullardSir Edward "Teddy" Crisp Bullard FRS was a geophysicist who is considered, along with Maurice Ewing, to have founded the discipline of marine geophysics...
- Oliver Bulman
- Alex Deer FRSWilliam Alexander DeerWilliam Alexander Deer was a British geologist.He was an Honorary Fellow of St John's College and Trinity Hall Cambridge, Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology at the University of Cambridge from 1961, Master of Trinity Hall from 1966 to 1975, and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1971...
- O T Jones FRSOwen Thomas JonesOwen Thomas Jones, FRS FGS was a Welsh geologist.He was born in Beulah, near Newcastle Emlyn, Cardiganshire, the only son of David Jones and Margaret Thomas. He attended the local village school in Trewen before going to Pencader Grammar School in 1893. In 1896 he went up to University College,...
- Drummond Matthews FRSDrummond MatthewsDrummond Hoyle Matthews FRS was a British marine geologist and geophysicist and a key contributor to the theory of plate tectonics...
- W H Miller FRSWilliam Hallowes MillerWilliam Hallowes Miller FRS , British mineralogist and crystallographer.- Life and work :Miller was born in 1801 at Velindre near Llandovery, Carmarthenshire. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1826 as fifth wrangler. He became a Fellow there in 1829...
- Stephen NockoldsStephen Robert NockoldsStephen Robert Nockolds, FRS was a geochemist, petrologist and winner of the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London....
- Noel OdellNoel OdellNoel Ewart Odell was an English geologist and mountaineer. Educated at Brighton College and the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, in 1924 he was an oxygen officer on the Everest expedition in which George Mallory and Andrew Irvine famously perished during their summit attempt...
- Sir Keith O'Nions FRSKeith O'NionsSir Robert Keith O'Nions , is a British scientist and current Rector of the Imperial College London. He is the former Director General of the Research Councils as well as Professor of the Physics and Chemistry of Minerals and was head of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of...
- Lord Oxburgh FRS
- Colin Pillinger FRS CBEColin PillingerColin Trevor Pillinger, CBE, is a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. He was the principal investigator for the British Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and has done much work studying a group of Martian meteorites.In May 2005 Pillinger was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.-Early...
- Barrie RickardsBarrie RickardsProfessor Richard Barrie Rickards, , was Emeritus Professor in Palaeontology and Biostratigraphy at the Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University and Life Fellow of Emmanuel College. He was best known for his work on Graptolites...
(Extensive studies on graptolites) - Nick Shackleton FRS (Winner of the Wollaston MedalWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
) - Steve Sparks FRS CBE Steve Sparks (volcanologist)Robert Stephen John Sparks, FRS, CBE , is Chaning Wills Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. He is one of the world's leading volcanologists and has been widely recognised for his work in this field.-Career:Steve Sparks is a graduate of Imperial...
- C E Tilley FRSCecil Edgar TilleyCecil Edgar Tilley FRS was an Australian-British petrologist and geologist.He was born in Unley, Adelaide, the youngest child of John Thomas Edward Tilley, a civil engineer from London, and his wife South Australia-born wife Catherine Jane...
- Harry Whittington FRSHarry B. WhittingtonHarry Blackmore Whittington FRS was a British paleontologist based at the Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, and was affiliated to Sidney Sussex College. He attended Handsworth Grammar School in Birmingham, followed by a degree and Ph.D in geology from the University of Birmingham...