The Life and Work of Professor J.W. Gregory FRS (1864-1932): Geologist, Writer and Explorer
>Gregory’s remarkable career and his scientific work are detailed and critically assessed. Accounts of his heroic 1893 expedition to the Rift Valley (a term he coined) in Kenya (now the Gregory Rift), his first crossing of Spitzbergen, and his resignation as Leader of the first British Antarctic Expedition of 1901, when racing to the Pole under Scott became the priority, draw on unpublished letters.
Military Aspects of Hydrogeology
This book contains 20 papers from authors in the UK, USA, Germany and Austria. Historically, it gives examples of the influence of groundwater on battlefield tactics and fortress construction; describes how groundwater was developed for water supply and overcome as an obstacle to military engineering and cross-country vehicular movement by both sides in World Wars I and II; and culminates with examples of the application of hydrogeology to site boreholes in recent conflicts, notably in Afghanistan.
Can you help the Archibald Geikie project?
Sir Archibald Geikie (1835-1924) was an eminent Victorian geologist, having been President of both the Geological Society of London, and the Royal Society, the only geologist ever to have held both positions. He retired in 1901 and moved to Haslemere in 1913 where he became chairman of the Haslemere Museum in 1914, after the death […]
2013 July – INHIGEO conference: abstracts
24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine Manchester, England Monday 22 – Sunday 28 July, 2013 The UK’s History of Geology committee (Hogg), working with UK INHIGEO members, organised the 2013 INHIGEO conference, during the 24th international Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine (iCHSTM). Abstracts from the two INHIGEO symposia […]
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”.
Revisiting Ardnamurchan
In 1930 James Richey and Herbert Thomas, working for the British Geological Survey, completed their mapping of Ardnamurchan, one of four extinct volcanoes on Scotland’s northwest coast that mark the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean 60 million years ago. Their meticulous work revealed that indeed it was an ancient volcano, with the famous […]
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 […]
50 years of plate tectonics
It’s 50 years this week since Vine and Matthews published their paper that confirmed the theory of plate tectonics. Read the full story.
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 […]