Geologist, 90, to be awarded honorary doctorate for services to cave science
By Leicester Mercury | Posted:
November 03, 2015
By Samantha Fisher
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Geologist-90-awarded-honorary-doctorate-services/story-28086080-detail/story.html
A geologist who recorded evidence of the earliest forms life in fossils at
sites as far apart as Leicestershire and the Grand Canyon is being awarded an
honorary degree. Dr Trevor Ford, 90, of Oadby, is to receive an honorary
doctorate from the University of Derby for his exceptional services to cave
science and outstanding contributions to the knowledge of cave systems, geology
and lead mining history in Derbyshire and the Peak District, over more than 60
years. Dr Ford's fascination with rocks started as a boy and he is still
publishing research.
Dr Ford said: "I'm running out of steam, but I'm still doing a little bit.
"If you make your work your play, you are always playing."
After graduating in geology from the University of Sheffield in 1950, Trevor
completed his PhD on the Ingleton coalfield, in North Yorkshire, and was
appointed assistant lecturer at the University of Leicester in 1952.
He became a lecturer, then a senior lecturer, before becoming the associate
dean for combined studies in science, from 1986 to 1988. He retired in 1989 and
was made an honorary research fellow.
In 1997, he was awarded an OBE for services to geology and to cave science.
One of his scientific achievements was naming a fossil found by a boy, Roger
Mason, in Charnwood Forest. It was described by Professor Martin Brasier, from
the University of Oxford, as identifying "a clear threshold for the study of
early life on Earth". Describing Charnia masoni, Dr Ford said: "It's an unknown
fossil mid-way between a plant and an animal. "Some people have described it as
a sea feather. It's an impression of a frond-like organism and we don't know
how it reproduced or fed."
Dr Ford's name still appears among the credits on a geological map of the Grand
Canyon, where he recorded evidence of early forms of life during rafting trips.
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