Derek Flinn (24 December 1922 – 4 June 2012) was a British geologist, best known for his work on the structure and deformation of rocks and the geology of Shetland.[1][2]
Derek Flinn | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 December 1922 |
| Died | 4 June 2012 (aged 89) |
| Alma mater | Imperial College, London BSc (1950), PhD (1952), DSc (1974) |
| Known for | Rock strain and shear; geology of Shetland. |
| Spouse | Glenys Williams |
| Awards | Murchison Medal (1982) Clough Medal (1996) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Structural geology |
| Institutions | University of Liverpool |
| Thesis | Regional metamorphism and migmatisation in Delting, Shetland. (1952) |
| Doctoral advisor | Herbert Harold Read |
Early life and education
editFlinn was born in Harrow, and went to school at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham. From 1941 to 1946, he served as a sergeant in the Royal Marines, including in the Special Boat Service in Sri Lanka. During one mission, he became stranded behind Japanese lines with a senior officer who was a geologist, and to pass the time they started looking at the rocks. This experience reportedly drew Flinn to geology. Flinn studied geology at Imperial College, London from 1947 to 1950, and graduated with first class honours. He completed his PhD in 1952, and then spent a year at ETH Zurich.[1]
Career
editIn 1953, Flinn was appointed lecturer at the University of Liverpool. He spent the rest of his career there and was promoted to reader in 1965 and awarded a personal chair in 1975. He was head of department from 1978 to 1983. Flinn's specialist area was structural geology, and much of his work began and continued in Shetland. His undergraduate dissertation at Imperial College had involved geological mapping in Unst, with H H Read as his advisor. He continued to work on Shetland for his PhD.[3] The quality of his geological mapping led to the award of contracts from the British Geological Survey to map large areas of the Shetland Islands, and a number of published maps and memoirs.[1][4][5]
Flinn worked on the quantitative analysis of deformed rocks continued throughout his career. The deformed ‘Funzie Conglomerate' on Shetland is one a classic example;[6] along with a geological ‘in-joke' about ‘pure nonsense and simple nonsense' in another.[7][8]
In 1957, he held a fellowship at the University of Chicago, and in 1960 spent a year at the Institute of Geology and Mineral Deposits in Moscow, Russia, funded by the Royal Society. In 1962 he toured Norway and Sweden at the expense of the King of Sweden.[1]
In 1986, Flinn retired and was appointed emeritus Professor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Liverpool University. He published a book on Shetland local history in 1989 "Travellers in a bygone Shetland".[1][9]
Awards
editFlinn was awarded a DSc from the University of London in 1974. In 1982, he was awarded the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London, and the Clough Medal of the Edinburgh Geological Society in 1996.
Family
editDerek married Glenys Williams in 1956. Glenys died in 1996. They had two daughters, and five grandchildren.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "The Geological Society of London - Derek Flinn 1922-2012". www.geolsoc.org.uk.
- ^ "Geology & Heritage | Shetland Amenity Trust". www.shetlandamenity.org.
- ^ "Shetland – June 2013 – Tectonic Studies Group".
- ^ Mykura, W; Flinn, D; May, F (1976). Orkney and Shetland. British Regional Geology, HMSO. ISBN 0118801619.
- ^ Flinn, D (2014). Geology of Unst and Fetlar in Shetland. Memoir for 1:50 000 geological sheet 131 (Scotland) Unst and Fetlar. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. ISBN 9780852727553.
- ^ Flinn, Derek (1956). "On the Deformation of the Funzie Conglomerate, Fetlar, Shetland". The Journal of Geology. 64 (5): 480–505. Bibcode:1956JG.....64..480F. doi:10.1086/626380. JSTOR 30057042 – via JSTOR.
- ^ John Frederick Dewey; Bernard Elgey Leake (2004). "Robert Millner Shackleton 30 December 1909 - 3 May 2001". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 50: 290. JSTOR 4140523 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Flinn, Derek (July 3, 1994). "Essay review: Kinematic analysis–-pure nonsense or simple nonsense?". Geological Journal. 29 (3): 281–284. Bibcode:1994GeolJ..29..281F. doi:10.1002/gj.3350290308 – via CrossRef.
- ^ Flinn, Derek (1989). Travellers in a bygone Shetland: an anthology. Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh. p. 278. ISBN 0707305241.