Martin Harold Phillips Bott (12 July 1926 – 20 October 2018) was a British geologist and Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

, England.

Education

Bott was educated at

Clayesmore School Clayesmore School is an independent school for boys and girls, aged 2 – 18 years, in the village of Iwerne Minster, Dorset, England. It is both a day and boarding school and is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (H ...

in Dorset and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree and PhD.

Career

Bott worked throughout his academic career at the University of Durham. In 1954 he started as

Turner & Newall Turner & Newall was a manufacturing business based in Manchester, United Kingdom. At its peak, it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. As part of their business, the company was one of the first ...

Research Fellow. In 1956 he received an appointment as lecturer in Geophysics, was promoted to

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

Geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

in 1963 and in 1966 appointed Professor of Geophysics. This place he held until his retirement in 1988, interrupted only in 1970 by a year abroad at the Lamont–Doherty Geological Observatory of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Research

Bott dealt first with the interpretation of magnetic and gravimetric anomalies in England, including Devon and Cornwall and in the eastern Alps. In the late 1950s he began studies on the mechanism of geological disturbances, and published work on various problems in relation to the structure of the crust. In the 1960s Bott published papers on the use of digital computation methods for solving geophysical problems and further work on the structure of the crust, regional geophysical studies in England and Ireland. In the early 1970s he published his textbook ''The Interior of the Earth'', in which he summarised the current knowledge about the structure of the earth. In addition to theoretical work on the interpretation of magnetic and gravimetric anomalies that appeared over the next few years, he published other geophysical papers on regions such as the Faroe Islands, South Greenland and the Lesser Antilles. Even after his retirement, he remained true to his research and published numerous scientific papers and books.

Awards and honours

Bott was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1976, and was the 1992 recipient of 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), ...

from the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

. His nomination for the Royal Society reads:

Personal life

Bott was a Vice-President of

Christians in Science Christians in Science (CiS) is a British organisation of scientists, philosophers, theologians, ministers, teachers, and science students, predominantly evangelical Christians, concerned with the dialogue between Christianity and science. The orga ...

. He died on 20 October 2018 at the age of 92.Professor Martin Bott
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bott, Martin 1926 births 2018 deaths Academics of Durham University Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge English Christians English geologists English geophysicists Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the International Society for Science and Religion People educated at Clayesmore School Wollaston Medal winners