Prof. Richard Gilbert West

R.G. West | Richard West | Professor R..G.West FRS
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Professor Richard Gilbert West FRS
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Professor Richard West was the second director of the Subdepartment of Quaternary Research.

Richard West was born in May 1926 he began his career at the age of 18 in 1944 when he joined the army and spent time in India.On return to England, he came to Clare College, Cambridge in 1948 taking Botany and Geology at Part I. Although being tempted to take Geology for Part II, he decided to study Botany, for which he obtained First Class Honours and the Frank Smart Studentship.As a research student, he was supervised by Harry Godwin, Director of the Subdepartment of Quaternary Research and investigated the now classic study of the stratigraphy and palynology of the Middle Pleistocene interglacial lake deposits at Hoxne, Suffolk.He was awarded his PhD in 1954, shortly after he was elected a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.Richard become a lecturer in the Department of Botany in 1960, in 1966 he became Director of the Subdepartment, and Head of the Department of Botany in 1977.He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968 and has been awarded many medals and prizes, including the Lyell and Bigsby medals of the Geological Society and the Albrecht Penck medal of the Deutsche Quartarvereiningung.Richard retired in 1991.

Throughout his career he maintained and still today maintains a wide interestin Quaternary Science in general and the British sequence in particular.His research is mainly based on the understanding of interglacial and cold-stagepalaeobotany and stratigraphy, but also sedimentation and periglaciation.As well as inspiring three generations of research students, he has publishednumerous reviews, over 120 papers and 9 books.

Coring at Histon RoadSubdepartment of Quaternary Research coring party at Histon Road, inCambridge during the 1950s. (lefet to right: Brian Seddon, ColinForbes, Richard West and Ken Marr).
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Three generations of Cambridge Quaternary scientists at Easton Bavents, Suffolk in 1988 on the QRA Easter Field meeting: left to right: Richard West, Phil Gibbard and Charles Turner. (photograph by M.J.C. Walker).
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Download a biography entitled: Richard West - an appreciation by Charles Turner and Philip Gibbard .

Prof Richard West, Emeritus Professor of Botany

R.G. West | Richard West | Professor R..G.West FRSGodwin Institute for Quaternary Research (GIQR) , History of Quaternary Research in Cambridge

GIQR
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Professor Richard Gilbert West FRS
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Professor Richard West was the second director of the Subdepartment of Quaternary Research.

Richard West was born in May 1926 he began his career at the age of 18 in 1944 when he joined the army and spent time in India.On return to England, he came to Clare College, Cambridge in 1948 taking Botany and Geology at Part I. Although being tempted to take Geology for Part II, he decided to study Botany, for which he obtained First Class Honours and the Frank Smart Studentship.As a research student, he was supervised by Harry Godwin, Director of the Subdepartment of Quaternary Research and investigated the now classic study of the stratigraphy and palynology of the Middle Pleistocene interglacial lake deposits at Hoxne, Suffolk.He was awarded his PhD in 1954, shortly after he was elected a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.Richard become a lecturer in the Department of Botany in 1960, in 1966 he became Director of the Subdepartment, and Head of the Department of Botany in 1977.He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968 and has been awarded many medals and prizes, including the Lyell and Bigsby medals of the Geological Society and the Albrecht Penck medal of the Deutsche Quartarvereiningung.Richard retired in 1991.

Throughout his career he maintained and still today maintains a wide interestin Quaternary Science in general and the British sequence in particular.His research is mainly based on the understanding of interglacial and cold-stagepalaeobotany and stratigraphy, but also sedimentation and periglaciation.As well as inspiring three generations of research students, he has publishednumerous reviews, over 120 papers and 9 books.

Coring at Histon RoadSubdepartment of Quaternary Research coring party at Histon Road, inCambridge

during the 1950s. (lefet to right: Brian Seddon, ColinForbes, Richard
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Three generations of Cambridge Quaternary scientists at Easton Bavents, Suffolk in 1988 on the QRA Easter Field meeting: left to right: Richard West, Phil Gibbard and Charles Turner. (photograph by M.J.C. Walker).
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Download a biography entitled: Richard West - an appreciation by Charles Turner

Clare has a tremendous tradition in plant sciences, from the palaeoecology and vegetation history initiated by Professor Harry Godwin and maintained by Professor Richard West, to the practical management of the finest gardens in a Cambridge College.