THE CAMBRIDGE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY - Key Persons
Adam Sedgwick was one of the founders of modern geology. He is known particularly for his work on classifying rocks from the Devonian and Cambrian eras, and his work was central to developing understanding of the geological time-line. He was also deeply involved in university teaching and academic structures, providing inspiration for the development of science courses in Cambridge and elsewhere. Within Cambridge his legacy is commemorated in the Sedgwick Museum which houses a huge collection of rocks and fossils. Mount Sedgwick in British Columbia, Canada is named after him.
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- Executive Secretary
- Office Staff Member
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- Associate Professor in Palaeobiology, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge
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- Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge
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- Vice - President / Department of Engineering and Newnham College, University of Cambridge
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- Department of Physics the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
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- Biological Secretary / Senior Lecturer, Department of Physiology Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge
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- Treasurer / Department of Pure Maths and Mathematical Statistics and First Bursar, King 's College Cambridge
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- Deputy Head of School, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Anglia Ruskin University
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- Senior Lecturer and Curator, University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge
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- Office Staff Member
- Editorial Assistant, Mathematical Proceedings
As was common in Cambridge, Henslow was ordained in 1824, soon after graduating, and gained some income by acting as the curate of Little St Mary's Church. In 1833 he was appointed vicar of Cholsey-cum-Moulsford in Oxfordshire, but continued to live and work in Cambridge during University terms, appointing a curate to take on his duties in the parish. In 1837 however he was appointed to a living at Hitcham in Suffolk, 45 miles from Cambridge, a post that was well-paid and came with a vicarage. He moved there with his family in 1839 and devoted increasing amounts of time and energy to improving the lives and wellbeing of his parishioners. He was very aware of the importance of education, and used his experience and teaching skills to provide resources in the village. He raised funds to found a village school for educating the children of the poor, and taught botany there himself as a core element of the curriculum. The poverty of this rural community was a great concern to him, and he worked tirelessly to improve the understanding and practice of agriculture through adult education at the Hitcham Labourers' and Mechanics' Society. In the course of this he noted that coprolites found locally could have value as fertiliser, leading to the establishment of the phosphate industry in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Through all this time, until his death in 1861, he continued to hold his Chair at Cambridge, teaching and examining and taking part in University activities, but his heart was elsewhere and his influence in Cambridge declined. He died at Hitcham in 1861 aged 65 and is buried in the churchyard there; his portrait hangs in the church. Following his death, Charles Darwin wrote of him: "I believe a better man never walked this earth".
John Stevens Henslow was a naturalist, a Cambridge academic, most remembered as a friend and mentor of Charles Darwin, inspiring him with a passion for natural history, proposing him to sail on the HMS Beagle as the naturalist on its five-year voyage, and promoting Darwin's work as he developed his theory of evolution. Within Cambridge, he was the driving force behind setting up the Botanic Garden in its current location, and was also notable as one of the founders (together with Adam Sedgwick and Edward Clarke) of the Cambridge Philosophical Society in 1819.
Job Titles:
- Office Staff Member
- Editorial Assistant, Biological Reviews