Lithograph by Maxim Gauci, image courtesy of National Portrait Gallery NPG D34914 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Date: 6 & 7 May 2020
Locations: University College London and The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly
Convenors: Duncan Hawley (HOGG) with Professor Ian Wood (UCL)
George Bellas Greenough Map Bicentenary Meeting
The Geological Map of England and Wales by George Bellas Greenough (1778-1855), also known as ‘the Geological Society’s map’, was published on 1 May 1820.
A meeting to mark the bicentenary of this important map will take place on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th May 2020.
University College London (Department of Earth sciences) will be host for the first day (conference and bicentenary dinner) on 6th May, and the Geological Society (Burlington House) will be the venue for the second day (viewing maps and materials) on May 7th.
Places on both days are limited to 85 places – so you are advised to book early to secure your registration.
The registration fee for the conference and the viewing days are inclusive of lunch with soft drinks, and coffee/tea refreshments. All registered delegates will receive an abstracts booklet and a ‘Greenough gift’.
UCL is a fitting venue for the conference day and bicentenary dinner as Greenough was instrumental in the founding of University College London; he was a subscriber (shareholder) in the original College, alongside a number of other prominent early Geological Society members involved in its set up in 1827, and he played a key role in its early governance. Greenough was an advocate for the inclusion of Geology, one of the newer sciences, in the curriculum offered by the College, although a Chair of Geology at UCL, was not established until 1844, when fittingly, Thomas Webster, who had played such an important role in the draughting, engraving and colouring of the 1820 geological map, was appointed to the post of Professor of Geology.
Meeting details:
Wednesday 6 May 2020
Conference 09.30-17.00hrs
· A day of oral presentations and discussion in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London (UCL). The programme is as follows (N.B. the order may be subject to change):
| 09.30-10.00 | Registration and Coffee | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Title | Presenter |
| 10.00-10.20 | Introduction: The lives of Greenough - childhood, family, domestic, political and social. | Duncan Hawley |
| 10.20-10.50 | Göttingen: the birthplace of Greenough’s lifelong passion | Dr Maximiliaan van Woudenberg (Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge) |
| 10.50-11.20 | Greenough’s aesthetic cultures of science | Dr Allison Ksiazkiewicz |
| 11.20-11.40 | Coffee | |
| 11.40-12.10 | Geological connections: Greenough and the Oxford Geological Club | Peter Lincoln |
| 12.10-12.40 | Greenough’s objectives in his 1819 book ‘First Principles’ and his 1820 Geological Map and Memoir | Prof Hugh Torrens & Dr Geoffrey Walton |
| 12.40-13.10 | The construction and distribution of Greenough’s 1820 geological map | Tom Sharpe |
| 13.10-14.10 | Lunch | |
| 14.10-14.40 | George Bellas Greenough’s Legacy as a Geological Map Designer | Karen Severud Cooke (University of Kansas) |
| 14.40-15.10 | Greenough’s influence on the colours employed on early Geological Survey maps | David G. Bate (British Geological Survey) |
| 15.10-15.40 | Greenough’s map collection and what it reveals about his interests | John Henry |
| 15.40-16.00 | Tea | |
| 16.00-16.30 | Manifestations of Greenough’s 1820 geological map: a ‘standard’ for subsequent geological maps | Duncan Hawley |
| 16.30-17.00 | George Bellas Greenough’s General Sketch of the Physical and Geological Features of British India (1854, 1855): its Production, Distribution, Variants and Survivorship | Dr Christopher Toland (Oolithica Geoscience Ltd) |
Evening: Greenough Map Bicentenary Dinner, Wednesday 6 May 2020 19.00 hrs
· An evening bicentenary celebration fine-dining three-course dinner in the Jeremy Bentham Room at UCL, attended by UCL Vice-Provost (Research), Professor G. David Price (Professor of Mineral Physics in the Dept of Earth Sciences and formerly Executive Dean of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Faculty). Professor Price will give an after-dinner talk.
The dinner will be a fixed three-course menu (starter, main and dessert, coffee/tea & petits fours)
Diners can opt for a ‘standard’ menu (meat & fish) or a vegetarian menu, and any special dietary requirements or allergies can be taken into consideration.
See registration form for menu details.
A selection of wines, beers and soft drinks to accompany the dinner will be available via a cash/card bar.
Thursday 7 May 2020
Viewing day: 10.00 – 16.00hrs
· A unique opportunity at the Geological Society apartments in Burlington House to view and discuss maps that Greenough annotated and used to collate geological information and construct his first edition, together with original Greenough specimens and materials used in the construction of the first edition of Greenough’s geological map of England and Wales. Subsequent editions of his map and other key early geological maps influenced by Greenough’s map will be on display, as will be the first geological map of India.
Material will drawn from the archives of the Geological Society as well as that held at UCL, the British Geological Survey and the National Museum of Wales. This will be the first time these materials have been gathered together in at least 165 years.