Lost Smith map rediscovered
A missing William Smith map of 1815 was discovered at the Geological Society on 19th February, 2014. Archivist, Caroline Lam, has been steadily working through a backlog of uncatalogued material since joining the staff two years ago. Her temporary assistant Victoria was clearing an old drawer of Centenary (1907) items and discovered a set of […]
Past Meeting: Murchison, the Discovery of the Silurian and the Brecon Anticlinal Field Trip
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison was one of the most important figures in 19th century geology and exploration. He was Director-General of the Geological Survey, President of the Royal Geographical Society and publicly known as the ‘King of Siluria’. In July 1831, on his first field season as a solo geologist, Murchison explored the Wye Valley. Retrospectively, over his diary entry for one of the locations we shall visit, he wrote “This was the first true Silurian”.
Geological Society Founders’ Day Lecture
This year Dr Cherry Lewis, HoGG committee member, will give the Geological Society’s Founders’ Day Lecture. Hogg members can attend the lecture free of charge. Her talk entitled James Parkinson and the Founding of the Geological Society will be held at The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly on Wednesday 13 November, 2013. 17.30 Tea & coffee 18.00 Lecture […]
Two exhibitions of interest
Two exhibitions of particular interest to historians of geology are on at the moment. Fossils: the evolution of an idea can be seen at the Royal Society in London until Friday 8 November, 2013. It combines an exhibition of books and archives from the Royal Society Library with fossils from the Sedgwick Museum of […]
Marie Tharp, the woman who discovered the Earth’s backbone
Marie Tharp was born July 30, 1920 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. As a young girl she followed her father, a soil surveyor for the United States Department of Agriculture, into the field. However, she also loved to read and actually wanted to study literature at St. John’s College in Annapolis, but as women were not admitted […]
2012 December – Piltdown: 100 years on
One hundred years ago, Piltdown man was revealed to the world at a packed and excited meeting at the Geological Society of London on 18 December 1912. It was hailed as a very early species of human – possibly even a missing link between man and ape that Charles Darwin had predicted. It was of […]
2011 April – Geological collectors and collecting
HoGG conference on Geological Collectors and Collecting, held at the Natural History Museum London in April 2011. For abstracts and programme click here.
Sue Tyler Friedman Medal 2013
This year the Geological Society of London has awarded its Sue Tyler Friedman Medal to Professor Henry (Hank) Frankel of the Department of Philosophy,UniversityofMissouri–Kansas City,USA. The award was established by Gerry Friedman in 1987 by a gift of the Northeastern Science Foundation Inc. of Troy,New York, and dedicated to his wife Sue Tyler Friedman. The […]
INHIGEO 2013 field trips — a few places left
A few places are still available on Field trips 2 and 3 and can be reserved on a first-come first-served basis by paying the full registration fee to HOGG by 15 June. Please see full details on the Inhigeo field trips webpages.
Rutherford's geophysicists
A Celebration of the work of Lord Blackett and Professor Sir Edward Bullard, on the Physics of the Earth. Although both were trained in nuclear physics, Patrick Blackett and Edward (Teddy) Bullard enjoyed careers that encompassed the Earth sciences. They were both convinced that Wegener’s ideas about continental drift had been right and their work […]