Today marks 100 years since the first eight women were elected as Fellows of the Society – we look at some of the milestones along the way. Continue reading
Category Archives: History
Theatre Review: “Dinomania”
“I’ve wasted my time, I should have been a geologist!” proclaims Gideon Mantell on discovering a fossilized tooth of an Iguanodon in the South Downs. This tooth will be Mantell’s most significant and turbulent discovery. It will lead him on a quest for acceptance, resulting in humiliation and perpetual disappointment at the cruel hands of … Continue reading
Quicquid subterra est (Whatever is under the Earth)
How do geologists know what the interior of the Earth looks like? Continue reading
Four female geologists who deserve £50 note fame!
Earlier this month, the Bank of England announced it would be selecting a new face of the £50 note, which has featured steam engine industrialists Matthew Boulton and James Watt since 2011. The scientific community was excited to learn that the new note will feature a scientist – and the public have been invited to … Continue reading
Military geology: an innovation of the 1914-18 World War
A guest post from Ted Rose, Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway’s Department of Earth Sciences On 11 November 1918 the guns fell silent on the Western Front, and the First World War horrors of trench warfare came to an end. The centenary of that armistice will be widely celebrated and much featured in the … Continue reading
The Congress that was all but cancelled!
Fifty years ago this week the 23rd International Geological Congress had just started meeting in Prague. Over 4000 geologists were making their way to the capital of Czechoslovakia, which that year seemed to be enjoying a relaxation in the political regime. Although, as the Congress approached, the political situation was becoming more tense, with Russia … Continue reading
#PlateTecStories: Shifting theory at the Royal Institution
A guest blog from The Royal Institution about the ways in which the Ri have communicated the science and importance of plate tectonics through time. Continue reading
Plate Tectonic Stories
Rob Butler, Professor of Tectonics at the University of Aberdeen, reflects on 50 years of plate tectonic theory, and announces our new online project, Plate Tectonic Stories. Continue reading
The Lying Stones of Johann Beringer
Opening just in time for April Fools’ Day, the Geological Society Library’s latest exhibition ‘The Lying Stones of Johann Beringer’ tells the story of one of geology’s earliest recorded practical jokes. Continue reading
The man who split the dinosaurs in two
A guest post from the Sedgwick Museum’s Douglas Palmer The lecture was titled ‘On the Classification of the Fossil Animals Commonly Named Dinosaurs’ and it was given in 1887 by Harry Govier Seeley, Professor of Geology at King’s College, London. Seeley argued that the ‘terrible lizards’, which were becoming increasingly popular at the time, could … Continue reading
