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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