Fearnsides, William George, 1879 - 1968
Dates
- Existence: 10 November 1879 - 15 May 1968
Biography
William George Fearnsides (1879-1968), FRS, MA (Cantab.), FGS, MIME, was Professor of Geology at the University of Sheffield from 1913 until his retirement in 1945, following which he was made Professor Emeritus. At the foundation of the University in 1905 there had been no Department of Geology, and this significant lack was of concern to Henry Clifton Sorby, whose will of 1908 endowed the establishment of a Chair. Because of some legal complications creation of the Department had to be delayed until 1913, in which year Fearnsides was appointed as the first Sorby Professor of Geology, a position he would hold for over three decades.
Fearnsides was born in Horbury, Yorkshire, on 10 November 1879, and educated at Wheelwright Grammar School, Dewsbury, from where, on a West Riding scholarship, he proceeded to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he was subsequently awarded a College scholarship and where he gained first class honours in both parts of the natural sciences tripos in 1900 and 1901. He was elected a Fellow of the College (1904-15) and appointed College and Taylor Lecturer in Natural Science (1908-13), and University Demonstrator in Petrology (1909-13). During his time at Sheffield, where he developed an interest in economic geology as a means of assisting local industry, he served, amongst other achievements, as a member of the Council of the Royal Society (1936-7), member of the Council of the British Association (1935-45), Consultant Geologist to the West Midlands Division of the National Coal Board (1947-58), and member of the Council of the Geological Society of London at various times between 1913 and 1947, becoming its Vice-President (1938-40, 1945-7) and President (1943-45). Awards included the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society (1932), Council´s Gold Medal of the Surveyor´s Institution (1914), Greenwell Medal of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers (1917) and Bessemer Premium of the Society of Engineers (1917). He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (1932) and served on its Council (1936-7). He died in Sheffield on 15 May 1968.