William Rowan Browne

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William Rowan Browne (born December 11, 1884 in Lislea , County Londonderry , † September 1, 1975 ) was an Australian geologist , petrographer and mineralogist .

Life

Browne was the son of schoolteachers and began his studies at Trinity College Dublin in 1903, but soon had to drop out because he fell ill with tuberculosis . To cure himself he went to Australia in 1904 and spent six months in a sanatorium in the Blue Mountains. Then studied there at the University of Sydney , where he made his bachelor's degree in 1911. In 1911 he was an astronomer at the Adelaide Observatory, but in the same year he moved to the University of Sydney as a demonstrator for geology. In 1913 he became Assistant Lecturer, 1916 Lecturer , after completing his doctorate (D. Sc.) 1922 Assistant Professor and 1940 Reader.

He is best known for a book on the geology of Australia that was based on the notes of his Professor Edgeworth David , who asked him to complete it before his death in 1934. He investigated granite intrusions in relation to the mountain building processes in which they were involved.

As an engineering geologist, for example, he was a consultant on Warragamba Dam and Gladesville Bridge.

He received the Clarke Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1942, of which he was president in 1932/33. He was one of the founders in 1927 and 1929/30 and 1948/49 President of the Geographical Society of New South Wales and 1955/56 President of the Geological Society of Australia (which he co-founded in 1952), whose WRBrowne Medal is named in his honor. He was a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (1954). In 1960 he received the Mueller Medal from the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS).

Fonts

  • with David: Geology of the Commonwealth of Australia, 2 volumes, London: Arnold 1950

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