Imperial remembers former Rector Lord Flowers
28 June 2010
Brian Flowers, one of Imperial’s longest-serving and most popular Rectors, has died at the age of 85. Reporter reflects on his contributions that formed the building blocks of the modern College.
Lord Flowers, a physicist, led Imperial for twelve years from 1973 with the ambition to make a good institution even better. Speaking before the College’s centenary in 2007, Flowers said that being Rector of Imperial was the pinnacle of his career, one which spanned the worlds of science, academia, politics and public service. He is survived by his wife, Mary.
A passionate supporter of UK universities, serving also as Chairman of the CVCP (now Universities UK), Vice Chancellor of the University of London and Chancellor of the University of Manchester later in his career, Flowers laid the foundations of the modern College during his term as Rector. He set priorities that remain core to its teaching and research today, while recognising that success for the College was in the hands of its staff and students, whom he described as “a very likeable bunch of people, a very clever bunch of people too.”
Charting a new course: interdisciplinary research and teaching
Lord Oxburgh, who led Imperial from 1993-2000, hailed Brian Flowers as a giant among Rectors, praising his vision for consolidating engineering and physical sciences at the College. Flowers’ approach focused on building strong links between subject areas, which led to the establishment and development of interdisciplinary teaching and research activities at Imperial.
Lord Flowers’ enthusiasm for the opportunities offered by collaborations across scientific disciplines, fuelled during his time as Chairman of the Science Research Council from 1967-73, led him to found the Centre for Environmental Technology in 1976, which brought together environmental research at the College. The new Centre allowed Imperial to take the lead in providing technological solutions to environmental problems – a path which the College continues along today through the work of the Centre for Environmental Policy, the Energy Futures Lab and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change.
Sir Gordon Conway, who was the first Academic Director of the Centre for Environmental Technology and is now Professor of International Development in the Centre for Environmental Policy, paid tribute to Brian Flowers as a tough, principled and very wise Rector who gave his full backing to plans for the Centre for Environmental Technology when first mooted in 1975.
Describing Lord Flowers’ philosophy behind the development, Sir Gordon said: “He faced down those in the silos who disliked cross-disciplinary activities. I remember one comment at a Senate meeting when a professor accused us of peddling ‘pap for popinjays.’ Brian would have none of that kind of ignorant prejudice. He was convinced from his experience on the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution that environmental education and research ought to be a central concern of the College. He also rightly insisted that the Centre should focus on postgraduate rather than undergraduate education. He came up with the name of the centre and he and the Pro Rector, John Sutton another sorely missed colleague, devised a fair and sustainable budget formula for us. He even found time to come and give lectures on the course – impeccably crafted and delivered lectures that were clear and well balanced.”
Keen to modernise the university culture, Brian Flowers ended the custom of using titles and surnames to address professors and heads of department. He also introduced a democratic approach to appointing heads of department, establishing staff committees that were consulted on the best candidate to lead the department and encouraging all members of the department to write to him in strict confidence with proposals. Physicist Sir Peter Knight, now Deputy Rector (Research) at Imperial, who was recruited to the College by Lord Flowers in 1979 and led his department’s non-professorial staff committee when a lecturer, explains: “He wanted to hear a groundswell of opinion from all staff in a department – not just the professors – and was particularly keen to seek the views of the next generation who would shape the department’s future.”
Attuned to industrial trends, Brian Flowers drove the modernisation of undergraduate courses, recognising the importance of training students for their future careers. Engineering courses were developed to provide students with greater industrial experience and, aware of the increasingly important role of information technology, under Flowers all departments were asked to teach computing skills.
During Flowers’ time as Rector the College’s research and teaching activities focused on science and engineering, and there were Nobel Prizes for Geoffrey Wilkinson in 1973 and Abdus Salam in 1979, but his vision of a new framework for medical education in London led to one of the most significant developments in Imperial’s history – the integration of a number of medical schools with the College. His report, commissioned by the Vice Chancellor of the University of London and published in 1980, proposed the merger of a number of the many free-standing undergraduate medical schools and their amalgamation with multi-faculty colleges.
John Davidson, Personnel Secretary at the College from 1974 to 1989, explains the two strands to Flowers’ thinking: “The first was that the medical schools were too small to be viable when funding was being reduced and secondly that it was highly desirable in the latter part of the twentieth century that the London medical schools should have a much closer association with institutions which had basic science departments. Although all of Brian’s proposals were not enacted precisely as proposed the present structure of medical education owes a great debt to him.”
In 1971 the College conferred upon him its highest honour, the Fellowship of Imperial College.
Supporter of students
Lord Flowers often commented that his wife shared his job. Together they sought to catalyse good social relationships with and between students. They were renowned hosts of a twice-termly ‘beer and bangers’ parties inviting large numbers into their residence at 170 Queen’s Gate. Speaking in 2006, Lady Flowers recalled:
Lord and Lady Flowers at 170 Queen’s Gate
“Once we found the sausages were going rather fast and I had to keep on sending down to the kitchen for more. Then I realised that there was a competition afoot as to who could sink the most sausages, and we got wise to that and found the culprits and rationed them!”
In return, Imperial College Union threw its own party for the Flowers at the end of his Rectorship, culminating in a celebratory trip around west London in Bo’, a veteran car dating from 1902 owned and cared for by engineering students at Imperial.
“This we carried out to the considerable consternation of the police, who fortunately had a sense of humour and rubbed their eyes in disbelief and waved us on,” Lord Flowers later remembered. “That was a great and jolly occasion, and a very nice gesture on the part of the students.”
Lynda Davies, who worked as Lord Flowers’ PA from 1978-1984, describes his open door policy: “As a young arts graduate I was barely older than most Imperial students, so there was a lighter touch in the office, less stuffiness. We had an ‘open door’ policy. Anyone could make an appointment to see the Rector. Staff, students, union representatives, parents and alumni – all were treated with the same courtesy and good humour, combined with common sense. That approach was very novel and much appreciated.”
Renowned physicist
Born in September 1924, Lord Flowers studied physics and electronics at Cambridge, before working as part of an Anglo-Canadian project codenamed Tube Alloys focused on nuclear weapon development during World War II. After the war he continued his research at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, becoming Head of Theoretical Physics in 1952 and pioneering computing methods to solve problems relating to the nuclear structure. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1961 at the age of 36.
He went on to hold academic posts in the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester, before taking up the post of Rector at Imperial in 1973 and then Vice Chancellor of the University of London between 1985 and 1990.
While Vice Chancellor of the University of London, he became known for making extensive notes during committee meetings. Sir Peter Knight said: “There was a quite a bit of speculation about why Brian was making so many notes and apparently carefully writing down every word. People thought that maybe he didn’t trust the minutes. Later, when his textbook on computer programs came out, it all became clear.”
In the preface to his 1995 textbook An introduction to numerical methods in C++, Lord Flowers confessed: “It was an enjoyable hobby, and immensely relaxing during interminable committee meetings, to write snippets of programs which could later be tried out at home, and was less visible to one’s colleagues than other portable pastimes, such as wood carving or taking snuff”.
National and international life
During his time as Rector, Flowers chaired the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and served as the chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals, now known as Universities UK, the umbrella body for all UK universities. For six years he was president of the European Science Foundation, and as Rector he also began routine visits to south east Asia and Japan to promote the College overseas, helping to develop the College’s international standing significantly. He was made an Officier of the Legion d’Honneur in 1981 – an honour of which he was extremely proud.
Brian was an extraordinary force, full of trenchantly-held but very sound ideas”
In addition to his high profile in science and academia, Lord Flowers is also notable for being one of the founding members of the Social Democratic Party, created in 1981. When first asked by Dame Shirley Williams, one of the “gang of four” that created the party, to leave the independent cross-benches of the House of Lords and join them, he declined. He later recalled that “two days later I rang her up and said ‘I’ve been looking at my face in the mirror and I can’t stand the sight of it; do you mind if I change my mind and join?’”
He was knighted in 1969 and made a life peer in 1979, when he became Lord Flowers of Queen’s Gate, the London street on which he lived as Rector.
After leaving the University of London he became Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, and was fondly remembered as a parliamentarian by Lord Winston, Professor of Science and Society at Imperial, when he subsequently became chair of that committee himself. Paying tribute, Lord Winston said: “Brian was an extraordinary force, full of trenchantly-held but very sound ideas.”
A Rector remembered
Lord Flowers is remembered as a Rector who nurtured the strengths of staff to build a better College. His approach to leadership gained him respect as John Davidson describes: “Brian was a delight to work with because he was honest and straightforward. He was also a bit puritanical in certain respects. I never remember him asking for any benefits for himself in terms of furnishings and accommodation in 170 Queen’s Gate in his 13 years as Rector and one of his earlier acts was to get rid of the Imperial College chauffeur-driven car and acquire a bus pass!”
Further background on Brian Flowers
To celebrate Lord Flowers’ sixtieth birthday in 1984, his friend Kyffin Williams, the renowned landscape painter, was commissioned to paint his portrait, paid for by members of the College who contributed far more than the required fee in their whip-round. Lord Flowers presented the portrait to the College on his retirement and it now hangs in the Council Room of 170 Queen’s Gate.
At the College today, two halls of residence on the Silwood Park Campus have been named after Flowers and his wife, Mary, and in 2000 he opened a multidisciplinary life sciences research facility on the South Kensington Campus, named the Flowers Building.
As Imperial’s tenth Rector Brian Flowers invigorated the College and introduced new approaches to academic activities for which future generations of staff and students are grateful. He will be much missed by all who knew him.
The Rt. Hon. Lord Flowers of Queen’s Gate FIC FRS; 13 September 1924 – 25 June 2010
— Caroline Davis and Abigail Smith, Communications
Please share your memories of Lord Flowers, Imperial’s tenth Rector, below.
Tags: History of the College, Isse 221, Issue 221, News, Obituaries, Rector
Posted in College, Your Voice | 17 Comments »
17 Responses to “Imperial remembers former Rector Lord Flowers”
-
Gordon Conway says:
In everything that Brian Flowers did at Imperial he set high standards. He was a person of great integrity, honest and transparent in his dealings with us all. His wife Mary also set the style and the standards, inviting the faculty and students to 170 for memorable dinners and other occasions. When I became the Vice-Chancellor at Sussex, my wife Susan and I consciously tried to emulate their example. The Flowers often came to stay in Sussex and offered advice when we needed it. He played a crucial role in ensuring my appointment there when the selection was subject to some nasty skulduggery.
The only thing he got wrong was to tell me that the Centre for Environmental Technology would probably only last for 5 years or so – but he assured me it would still be a worthwhile venture. As it happened it has lasted to the present day (now called the Centre for Environmental Policy) – over 35 years and taking in 150 masters students a year – and is emulated by a cluster of other cross-disciplinary centres in the College. I reminded him of this when I saw him just a week ago. He chuckled, knowing full well that he had given us a challenge we could not resist.
-
John Davidson says:
Brian was a superb delegator. From 1977 until 1989 I was responsible for HR affairs at the College, among other things, and early on he said to me: “I don’t run Imperial College; no one can run Imperial College. All I can do is to decide the strategic direction of the College, then try to appoint the very best persons to Chairs, Readerships and other senior posts, and then let them get on with it!” And he did just that.
-
Colin Grimshaw says:
Brian Flowers time as Rector was unique in many ways. You have to go back a long while to find someone who was asked to be Rector, as he was, for 12 years. He and his wife Mary were not only a main part of Imperial they WERE Imperial! I knew them both from the time Brian Flowers became Rector and worked with them on many occasions. To be Imperial’s Rector you have to be firm and in complete control, but you also have to be approachable and friendly like a member of your own family. Brian was certainly a member in every sense of the Imperial family and he was sadly missed upon his departure as Rector. I’m so glad I had the chance to capture them both on videotape for the centenary celebrations talking about their life together here, at what they called their home. Indeed, when he was made a Lord he felt so strongly about the Imperial connection that he opted to be Lord Flowers of Queens Gate.
-
Professor Richard Macrory says:
It was typical of Brian Flowers’ extraordinary foresight that thirty years ago he established an environmental law lecturership at Imperial, at a time when few other UK universities had even shown an interest in the subject. Equally typical of his lack of snobbery and pretension, he approved the appointment to the post of a callow young lawyer from Friends of the Earth, an organization which then seemed to many to be promoting irrational and unscientific policies. I don’t think either of us expected the experience to lead to me being appointed the UK’s first environmental law professor some twelve years later but I have never forgotton the opportunity that Brian provided at the time. It is sometimes difficult only a generation later when environmental law and environmental issues are now so mainstream to appreciate what bold steps Brian was taking at the time.
-
Professor Garry E Hunt says:
Lord Flowers
The creation of the interdisciplinary and interdepartmental teaching and research Centres by Brian Flowers, is a lasting illustration of his imaginative and creative vision as Rector from which the College has benefited scientifically and financially over several decades. He seemed to have the foresight of the emerging areas of scientific development and a special ability to bring together the appropriate people around the College to lead the activities at Imperial. His visions were not restricted to Imperial as he managed to “trump” the Provost of UCL and bring me, my research group and extensive facilities to Imperial to set up the Centre of Remote Sensing.
Brian Flowers was always approachable and an excellent mentor. I was always particularly impressed with the manner in which he handled the numerous prima donnas at meetings of the Board of Studies too; a style I have tried to follow as a commercial Director and Chairman.
His tenure as Rector of Imperial College is s in my mind, a lasting legacy of Brian Flowers’ excellent and imaginative skills as educational administrator. -
Professor Sarah Gurr says:
Homepride-
Proud to have studied at IC and to have been inspired by Flowers. Wonderful human touch: he took time to talk to us, found out our interests and fed us fequently at 170 Queensgate.Sir Monty Finniston spoke eloquently at graduation ceremony, twisting the ad. “Graded grains make finer flour” to “Graded brains by finest Flowers” (or something close)- very apt.
-
Nalin Parmar says:
I remember Sir Brian as an extremely urbane and cultured man with great presence. I was a departmental student rep and a student rep on the Admissions Policy Committee and as such was invited to functions at 170 Queens Gate. He made us young students feel very welcome put us completely at ease.
-
David Kelsall (Chem Eng 77-80; 80-85 (PhD)) says:
I was the first member of my family ever to go to university. My immediate forebears had been train and bus drivers; had fought and been gassed in the First World War and, coming from humble backgrounds, had fought in the Second World War. They had not been particularly in charge of their own destiny.
In comparison, I was so lucky enough (though I didn’t know it at the time) to go to Imperial College. I was in awe as we were welcomed in the Great Hall by Sir Brian in 1977. At the time I had no other idea of his achievements, but my family were so impressed that I had seen someone who was a knight of the realm.
By the time I became a post-graduate, my friends and I had discovered “Beer & Bangers”. What fantastic evenings they were. Lord and Lady Flowers were wonderful hosts. We never had any suspicions of rationing, and the evenings just flew by. To demonstrate a true student mentality, we had identified these events as a good opportunity for food – and (more importantly) drink.
Nevertheless they were lovely evenings in, what for some of us, were exciting times. Not the Nine O’Clock News was informing us about satire; CND was very vocal about Trident & the Gang of Four were breaking away from the Labour Party to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Proudly displayed on the mantelpiece of 170 Queensgate in the Rector’s flat was a membership card for the SDP (with a membership number less than a 100).
Still, with all that high powered stuff going on, he and his wife had time for us mere students. What a fantastic example to us all.
I shall remember him (and his humanity) for as long as I am alive.
-
Professor Christopher Howe FBA says:
In 1982 Lord Flowers was asked to advise the Hong Kong Government on how to develop research in the local universities which, at the time, had no arrangements or money for this at all. Within six months he had assmembled a small working party and presented a report proposing the establishment of a Research Council. This proposal was rejected by the colonial administration of the day but, some eight years later, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council was finally established. This has had important long term consequences for Hong Kong and is now a prize element in the territory’s infrastructure. He never lost interest in this and only a few weeks ago we talked on the telephone and corresponded about about these long distant events and their eventual outcome. A truly wonderful person. Christopher Howe
-
Mark Wong says:
Lord Flowers left me a vivid impression of his common touch and humility on my first encounter with the Rector of the Colleage. It was in Waitrose on Gloucester Road in the early autumn of 1977 when Lord Flowers (then Sir Brian) said gently behind this new first year student to the College shopping for food at the meat connter: “They are all very expensive here in London, aren’t they.” I do not recall details of the ensuing conversation but the impression of a towering intellectual and visionary with such strong empathy to ordinary student life stays with me to this day. Lord Flowers imparted upon his students lasting values and qualities that go well beyond academic training.
-
Arthur Spirling says:
In 1974 there were discussions about the separation of the Computer Centre from the Department of Computing and Control. Lord Flowers invited the Centre staff (30) and its Director, Mr Steve Nordanholt, for a consultation in the Solar room of 170. As you might expect we spent some time rehearsing what questions we might be asked e.g. how many mainframes do we look after, what jobs do they run, what are the costs. On the due afternoon we gathered in the Solar room. After a few moments wait, Lord Flowers, a quite imposing figure, entered the room and draped himself on the chaise longue situated at one end, and invited the rest of us to sit. His first question/statement to the Director was ‘I am not sure we need a Computer Centre Steve’. There followed a very long pause until I, then a junior nobody, managed to make some reply. The session improved a bit, but it was quite obvious who was in charge. The result was that he set up the Computer Centre as an independent service department under the academic leadership of Professor Harry Elliot from Physics.
-
Eric Ash says:
I had the near impossible task of succeeding Brian Flowers as Rector in 1985. I had known -and admired him – for many years, but then saw a great deal of him as he passed the baton to me. His enthusiasm for the College was unbounded. The warmth of his personal attachment to the staff was evident – a major factor in the success of his leadership. Perhaps less well known was his dry sense of humour which from time to time informed and enlightened his views. I remember a comment he made to me on departing: “Imperial academics are an arrogant set of b…s, but then they have so much to be arrogant about.”
-
Peter Mee (Registrar 1967-96) says:
Brian Flowers had presence. Selection interviews produce a wide range of experiences and emotions for both the interviewee and the interviewing panel and it is known that there are occasions when an entry into the interview room produces a frisson among the panel that a ‘presence’ has entered. Hearsay has it that when Brian Flowers entered the room to be interviewed for the post of Rector there was an instinctive recognition that ‘this is the man’. And so it proved.
Among the many attributes Brian brought to the office of Rector it seemed to me, viewing from the Registry, was far-sightedness. Three examples come to mind.
His Working Party on the future of medical and dental teaching resources in the University of London reached conclusions which were not palatable at the time, but just look at the situation now.
His proposal, just at the beginning of the probable re-alignment of the London Colleges, that Imperial College should seek a merger with Queen Elizabeth College was not received favourably in Imperial’s Board of Studies and the idea had to be abandoned. Subsequent developments led to the realisation that this was a tragically lost opportunity.
Brian, in his good-natured way, could often be persuaded, when time permitted, to go out to schools to speak at Prize Givings, Open Days etc as part of our efforts to achieve closer liaison with schools. His speeches were joint efforts: I supplied the background educational material; Brian provided the scientific content; and Lynda Davies kept our feet on the ground. It was in these early 1970 addresses that I was first made aware of the destruction of the Amazon rain forests and the coming debate on global warming, but Brian in talking to schoolchildren and parents at these gatherings was already reaching a much wider audience.
Brian, and Mary, had a happy and sensible relationship with the students, not just with the Student Union officers but also with students generally. He was always willing to listen. I can recall him agreeing to meet a student who was complaining about something ( I cannot remember what) and I was called to sit in as ’minder’. At some stage the student desperately trying to make his case understood suddenly said “ Well, I don’t know how much you know about Physics” as a preliminary to his argument, to which the former Langworthy Professor of Physics blandly replied “ Well, you carry on and I’ll stop you when you lose me.” That was Brian, relaxed, imperturbable and courteous.
-
Professor Nigel Bell says:
I was so sorry to hear of Brian’s death.I first met him in 1974 when he came around Silwood Park where I was a very junior lecturer in the Botany Department.Later I got to know him well through the Centre for Environmental Technology,which I was also involved in setting up and was Director of its MSc course for 28 years as well as Director of the Centre itself for 8 years.This involved me having frequent discussions with him during the dreadful period of financial cuts in 1982.It was very comforting at the time to realise that we had such a giant of a man in charge of College.I agree with Gordon Conway about Brian’s visionary approach to the establishment of our Centre and his active encouragement of interdisciplinarity at the interface of the natural and social sciences which is so essential for the resolution of environmental problems.At the time many in College viewed such an approach as heresy.I was always very proud that the only teaching that Brian did during his years as Rector was on our MSc.Both Brian and Mary were legendary for their kindness and hospitality to students and also to staff.In the latter respect when I was promoted to Professor of Environmental Pollution over 20 years ago I was surprised and delighted to receive an invitation to a black tie dinner at the official residence of the Vice Chancellor of the University of London.At the time I thought in my naivety that this was something that happened to all newly appointed professors in the university.We had a brilliant convivivial evening but it was only later that I realised that this was a rare honour.We will all miss him so much.
-
Professor David Cope says:
First, on behalf of all Board members of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, who have served alongside Brian in that role, I send our sincerest condolences.
I would also like to note my personal profound gratitude to Brian. This goes back well beyond my becoming director of POST to his time as chair of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and its seminal 6th Report on Nuclear Power. This sits on my bookshelf above my desk and is probably the most thumbed source in my entire library.
Over the years, Brian was a great source of advice and support – and this was ramped up several orders of magnitude when I became Director of POST in 1998. He was always available when needed and robustly defended the ‘horizon-scanning’ role of POST against those who wanted it merely to be a reactive information-providing organisation.
I always apply what I call the ‘Brian test’ to any decision-making dilemma I face – and try to reason out what his response would be to the situation. It’s been a good discipline!
-
Professor Sir David Melville says:
Although I had heard of the great physicist Brian Flowers as an undergraduate and used his book on properties of matter as a young lecturer in physics at Southampton, I first met him at an event at the Barbican in 1992 when I was Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex. Knowing he lived in NW London I asked him if he would like to get involved with one of the ‘new universities’. Characteristically he looked me straight in the eye with that certainty I later came to know well and said ‘I think you mean it. The answer is yes. Invite me to lunch!’. He kept his word, serving 8 years on the Board of governors and playing an active role on the Research Committee.
Personally he became my advisor, mentor and friend and I have taken no step in my professional life since then without first consulting him and absorbing his ever forthright advice.
When the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics was absorbed into the CVCP I asked Brian’s advice on what he had heard from his former Vice-Chancellor colleagues on how the merger was seen. His reply was ‘they say you lot talk too much for new boys and more importantly you don’t seem to appreciate how important and eminent they all are’
Brian and Mary were wonderful company, outstanding hosts and excellent house guests with a great sense of humour and thirst for adventure. Particularly memorable were occasions when they joined us on sailing trips and especially the occasion of the last total eclipse when we left the Solent early to sail south to the latitude half way to France where we would experience totality. Mary had acquired sheets of welding glass (from the Welding Institute no less)which she had taped into cardboard boxes from Waitrose. At the appropriate time we donned the boxes on our heads and enjoyed the complete spectacle looking like aliens from another planet. Brian was particularly pleased that Mary was able to see the total eclipse since she had witnessed the previous UK one as a child in Manchester in her push chair.
Brian was a giant of a man in so many ways. He did not suffer fools gladly but his forthright style was matched by his essential humanity and kindness. He was a truly great man whom I feel immensely privileged to have known. We will not see his like again. -
Ian Lerche says:
Brian Flowers was one of the most instrumental people who helped form and develop my eductaion in science. He had just taken over the Physics Depertment at Manchester University when I started as a lowly undergraduate studentin 1959. His lectures on the properties of matter were masterpieces of scholarship and delivered with a clarity that I wish I could emulate. He was the only Prof. who received a standing ovation from the first year class for his remarkable teaching.
Later when I was trying to decide whether to stay on for a Ph.D or go earn some real money, I told Brian that I had decided against continuing my academic pursuits because the graduate pay was too low to survive. He told me that he was on a commission to raise the pay because of precisely the problem that good students were quitting in droves. And then, in confidence, he told me that as of the next term the pay would be raised. His word that such would happen was enough for me to choose to stay in academia. I have often mused how my career would have been differnt without his guidance and help.
I guess that all these years later I owe a debt of gratitude to Brian Flowers that I cannot repay- I will miss him sadly – and I am sure I am not alone. Thank you Brian.
Ian Lerche
Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences Emeritus
