Robin Bathurst (1920-2006) One of the great carbonate
petrographers of the second half of the 20th century, Robin Bathurst began
geological studies in 1939 at Chelsea Polytechnic. After WWII he continued
studies, at Imperial College and then at Cambridge with P. Allen. He was invited
to work as an assistant lecture at Liverpool in 1951. There, while teaching
interpretation of thin sections, he found limestones to be a challenge. Delving
into the metallurgical literature which distinguished between crystals
solidified from melt and those formed by annealing he began to find answers.
This insight and a study of Bruno Sander's work led to the publication of three
papers in 1958-59 which had a profound effect upon his life and the study of
carbonates. The 1958 paper gained him ten weeks teaching in 1960 at Caltech,
followed by a ten week lecture/discussion tour in N. America--a period described
later as 'turning the subject on its ear". The tour took him to the Lerner
Marine Laboratory, Bimini, where he was invited to join the Bahamian Research
Team of Columbia University, N.Y., giving him three consecutive summers
researching Bahamian marine carbonate sedimentation. The first 1959 paper
received Best Paper of the Year Award in the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology,
and the second established stromatactis as a system of filled cavities and
described, for the first time, radiaxial fibrous calcite. In 1959 he arranged a
seminar in Liverpool for people interested in the sedimentology of limestone.
This gathering provoked such interest that it became the first of a series of
international meetings of carbonate sedimentologists in Liverpool, organized by
Robin and his wife Diana, and now known as the Bathurst Meeting, attracting
participants world-wide. (foregoing contributed by Paul
Enos)
During the 1960's Bathurst began to write his book Carbonate Sediments and their Diagenesis which was published in 1971 to critical acclaim. Enlarged and reprinted in 1975, the book made a lasting impression on carbonate petrology students of the day, including tutorial author (KLM) who regards this tome as a "tribute to what one person can know about a single subject" and treasures her tattered copy signed by Robin. Exhaustive in its treatment of the literature and containing massively detailed analysis and interpretation of the key features in carbonate rocks, the book also rewards the careful reader with humorous asides, word plays, and wry commentaries directed to the international cast of carbonate researchers whom Robin clearly held in great esteem and friendship. The book is also a tribute to the satisfaction and fun that surrounds a life in science.
Written in Dallas 1983.
Kitty says: "Robin's gracious good wishes came true, of course, as I get
to look at thin sections almost every day."