Henry Woods (18 December 1868, in

Cottenham Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Cottenham is one of the larger villages surrounding the city of Cambridge, located around five miles north of the city. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 6095. Cottenham ...

– 4 April 1952, in

Meldreth Meldreth is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, located around south-west of Cambridge. At the 2011 Census, the population of the parish was 1,783. History A large Bronze Age hoard was found near Meldreth railway s ...

) was a British

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. In 1890 Woods earned a B.A. from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, then became there curator of the Woodwardian Museum, earning an M.A. in 1894. In 1895 he won the Sedgwick prize. At Cambridge University, Woods was from 1892 to 1899 a demonstrator in paleobotany, and from 1894 to 1899 a demonstrator in paleozoology until his promotion to lecturer. From 1899 until his retirement in 1934 he was a lecturer in paleontology at Cambridge. In 1910 he married paleontologist Ethel Skeat, the daughter of

Walter William Skeat Walter William Skeat, (21 November 18356 October 1912) was a British philologist and Anglican deacon. The pre-eminent British philologist of his time, he was instrumental in developing the English language as a higher education subject in th ...

, professor of Anglo-Saxon. Even after his retirement, Woods remained at the university as a librarian for the paleontology department until he was over eighty. In 1940 Woods received the

Wollaston Medal The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London. The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831. It was originally made of gold (1831–1845), ...

and in 1918 the

Lyell Medal The Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal. This medal is awarded based on one Earth Scientist's exceptional contribution of research to the scientific ...

. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in 1916. He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge; his wife is buried with him.

Works

* ''Palaentology, invertebrate'', Cambridge University Press, 7th edn. 1937
Online1st edn. 1893

''Elementary Palaentology for geology students''
Cambridge University Press 1893 * ''Catalogue of the Type Fossils in the Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge'', Cambridge 2010
1st edn. 1891

''Trilobita''
an
''Eurypterida''
in Sidney Harmer ''et al.'' Cambridge Natural History, vol. 4, 1909

References

External links

Brief biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Henry British palaeontologists Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge English curators Fellows of the Royal Society Lyell Medal winners Wollaston Medal winners 1868 births 1952 deaths People from Cottenham People from South Cambridgeshire District