| Authorised form of name | West; Richard Gilbert (1926 - 2020) |
| Dates | 1926 - 2020 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Hendon, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 31/05/1926 |
| Place of death | Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 31/12/2020 |
| Occupation | Botanist; geologist |
| Research field | Geology |
| Botany |
| Quaternary |
| Palaeobotany |
| Stratigraphy |
| Climatology |
| Periglacial processes |
| Activity | Education:
Clare College, University of Cambridge, BSc (1950), PhD (1954)
Career:
Joined Royal Signals, British Army aged 18 (1944); served in India during the second world war; Administrative Officer, Signal Officers' Training School, Mhow, India; Fellow, Clare College, University of Cambridge (1954); Department of Botany, University of Cambridge, Lecturer (1960), Quarternary Research Sub-department Head and Reader (1966), Head of Department and Professor of Botany (1977-1991); visiting lecturer, University of Minnesota (1960); Chairman of the New Phytologist Trust (1983); retired 1991
Memberships:
Quaternary Research Association
Medals/Awards:
Bigsby medal of the Geological Society of London, Lyell medal of the Geological Society of London; Albrecht Penck medal of the Deutsche Quartarvereinigung
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 21/03/1968 |
| Age at election | 41 |
| RSActivity | Committee and panels:
Royal Society Research Grants Scheme - Board D (1997-1998) |
| Relationships | Research student under Sir Harry Godwin FRS |
| PublishedWorks | https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50004491/ |
| OtherInfo | Richard West was a botanist and geologist who significantly advanced our understanding of the Quaternary Period — which stretches from 2.6 million years ago to the present day — in Britain and Western Europe. He was particularly noted for his classification of the different temperate stages of the Pleistocene, including the Great Interglacial — a warmer period around 400,000 years ago.
Richard’s work notably involved drilling cores from ancient lakebeds near Hoxne and Ipswich in Suffolk, and an ancient forest in Cromer, Norfolk. The cores came from different periods in time, which Richard named ‘Ipswichian’, ‘Hoxnian’ and ‘Cromerian’ — terminology that remains in use today. The distribution of pollen and other plant remains within these cores, plus analysis of the soil types, provided Richard with data to make deductions about chronology and climate.
The importance of Richard’s research was recognised with a number of awards, including the Lyell Medal and Bigsby Medal of the Geological Society of London and the Albrecht–Penck Medal of the German Quaternary Association.
Professor Richard West FRS died on 31 December 2020. |
| Source | Sources:
Royal Society Profile (https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-west-12513/, accessed 21 January 2021)
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Gilbert_West, accessed 21 January 2021)
Turner, Charles and Gibbard, Philip, 'Richard West - an appreciation' in Quatenary Science Reviews, Vol 15 pp375-389, 1996 (Includes a list of committees served on, editorial positions and research students, https://www.quaternary.group.cam.ac.uk/history/directors/westbio.pdf, accessed 21 January 2021)
References:
Obituary, 'Richard West, Head of Department 1977-91, died on 30 Dec 2020 after a short illness', 15 Jan 2021 (https://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/news/2021-01-15, accessed 21 January 2021)
'Richard West', Voices of Science, British Library, C1379/34, 21 Mar 2011 (https://www.bl.uk/voices-of-science/interviewees/richard-west, accessed 21 January 2021)
'Professor Richard Gilbert West FRS', Cambridge Quaternary (https://www.quaternary.group.cam.ac.uk/history/directors/west.html, accessed |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/100294676 |
| Code | NA4235 |