:Geological Society of London

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| formation = {{start date and age|1807|11|13|df=y}}

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| founding_location = Freemasons Tavern, Great Queen Street
London, {{postcode|WC|2}}

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| type = Learned society

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| registration_id = 210161

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| headquarters = Burlington House, Piccadilly
London, {{postcode|W|1}}

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File:Geological Society of London.jpg, Piccadilly, London]]

The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society,[http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/op/%20%3C/page1.html The Geological Society] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817042543/http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/op/%20%3C/page1.html |date=17 August 2010 }}, UK. 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.

Fellows are entitled to the postnominal FGS (Fellow of the Geological Society), over 2,000 of whom are Chartered Geologists (CGeol). The Society is a registered charity, no. 210161. It is also a member of the Science Council, and is licensed to award Chartered Scientist to qualifying members.

The mission of the society is: "Making geologists acquainted with each other, stimulating their zeal, inducing them to adopt one nomenclature, facilitating the communication of new facts and ascertaining what is known in their science and what remains to be discovered".{{cite episode |series=In our time |title=Early Geology |url=http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20120412-1130a.mp3 |minutes=1 |date=12 April 2012 |network=BBC Radio 4 |credits=Andrew Scott,Stephen Pumfrey, Leucha Veneer |access-date=16 September 2012 |archive-date=22 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022201809/http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/iot/iot_20120412-1130a.mp3 |url-status=live }}

History

The Society was founded on 13 November 1807 at the Freemasons' Tavern, Great Queen Street, in the Covent Garden district of London.Herries Davies, G.L. (2007) Whatever is Under the Earth: The Geological Society of London 1807 to 2007, London: Geological Society It was partly the outcome of a previous club known as the Askesian Society. There were 13 founder members: William Babington, James Parkinson, Humphry Davy, George Bellas Greenough, Arthur Aikin, William Allen, Jacques Louis, Comte de Bournon, Richard Knight, James Laird, James Franck, William Haseldine Pepys, Richard Phillips, and William Phillips. It received its royal charter on 23 April 1825 from George IV.

Since 1874, the Society has been based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. This building houses the Society's library, which contains more than 300,000 volumes of books and journals.[http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ The Geological Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926050702/http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/template.cfm?name=Awards |date=2006-09-26 }}, UK. It is a member of the UK Science Council.

In 1907 a decision was made by the Society to admit women as Associates, under the condition they distinguished themselves as geological investigators or submitted their own original research.{{Cite web|title=Margaret Chorley Crosfield (1859-1952)|url=https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/womens-suffrage/suffrage-biographies/margaret-chorley-crosfield-1859-1952|access-date=2021-04-14|website=Exploring Surrey's Past|language=en-GB}} Women were first allowed to become Fellows of the Society in 1919.{{cite web |last=Hunter |first=Dana |date=19 March 2019 |title=Geological Society of London Celebrates the First Female Fellows |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/geological-society-of-london-celebrates-the-first-female-fellows/ |access-date=27 March 2019 |publisher=Scientific American Blog Network |archive-date=20 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020093138/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/geological-society-of-london-celebrates-the-first-female-fellows/ |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Burek |first=Cynthia V. |date=21 August 2009 |title=The first female Fellows and the status of women in the Geological Society of London |url=https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/317/1/373.short |access-date=27 March 2019 |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |volume=317 |issue=1 |pages=373–407 |doi=10.1144/SP317.21 |bibcode=2009GSLSP.317..373B |s2cid=128719787 |archive-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025030727/https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/317/1/373.short |url-status=live }} Margaret Crosfield became the first, due to alphabetical primacy, of the first eight women to be elected Fellows of the Society, on 21 May 1919.{{Cite web|title=The Geological Society of London - Margaret Crosfield, FGS (1859-1952): the first female Fellow|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210414202324/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Library-and-Information-Services/Exhibitions/the-first-women/margaret-crosfield|access-date=2021-04-14|website=www.geolsoc.org.uk}}

In 1991, the Society merged with the Institution of Geologists, which had been formed in 1977 to represent the geological profession.{{cite web |last=Brassington |first=R. |title=The Institution of Geologists - A Brief History |url=http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/op/edit/society/history/page3299.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120314073553/http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/op/edit/society/history/page3299.html |archive-date=14 March 2012 |access-date=16 May 2010 |publisher=The Geological Society, London}}

The Society is a member of the European Federation of Geologists.

The Society celebrated its bicentenary in 2007. It ran programmes in the geosciences in Britain and abroad, under the auspices of the science writer and palaeontologist Professor Richard Fortey, the president that year.

Specialist and regional groups

The Society has 24 specialist groups and 15 regional groups which serve as an opportunity for those with specific interests to meet and discuss their subject or region. They are all free for members to join and some are open to non-members.{{Cite web |title=Regional Groups |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/regional |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314232021/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/regional |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Specialist Groups |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Groups-and-Networks/Specialist-Groups |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521061409/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Groups-and-Networks/Specialist-Groups |url-status=live }}

The Regional Groups are:

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

Central Scotland
East Anglian
East Midlands
Home Counties North
Hong Kong
North West
Northern
Northern Ireland
Solent
South East
South West
Southern Wales
Thames Valley
West Midlands
Western
Yorkshire

}}

The Specialist Groups are:

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|* British Geophysical Association

British Sedimentological Research Group
British Society for Geomorphology
Contaminated Land Group
Earth Systems Science Group
Energy Group
Engineering Group
Forensic Geoscience Group
Geochemistry Group
Geological Curators' Group
Geological Society Business Forum
Geological Society Discussion Group
Geological Remote Sensing Group
Geoscience Information Group
History of Geology Group
Hydrogeological Group
Marine Studies Group
Metamorphic Studies Group
Mineral Deposits Studies Group
Near Surface Geophysics Group
Quaternary Research Association
Tectonic Studies Group
Volcanic & Magmatic Studies Group

}}

Publications

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2023}}The society publishes two of its own journals, the (formerly Quarterly) Journal of the Geological Society and the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology & Hydrogeology. It also publishes the magazine Geoscientist for Fellows, and has a share in Geology Today, published by Blackwell Science.

It also co-publishes journals and publishes on behalf of other organisations. These include Petroleum Geoscience with the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers; Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis with the Association of Applied Geochemists; Journal of Micropalaeontology for The Micropalaeontological Society; Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society for the Yorkshire Geological Society; and Scottish Journal of Geology for the Geological Societies of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Past presidents

The society counts many famous geologists amongst its past presidents. These include pioneers of geology William Buckland, Adam Sedgwick, Roderick Impey Murchison, Charles Lyell, Henry Thomas De la Beche, Thomas Henry Huxley, Joseph Prestwich, Archibald Geikie, Jethro Teall, and Charles Lapworth. Later well-known names include Alfred Harker, Arthur Elijah Trueman, Herbert Harold Read, Frederick Shotton, and Janet Watson.

Scientific awards and funds

In 1831, it began issuing an annual scientific award for geology, known as the Wollaston Medal. This is still the Society's premier medal, which in 2006 was awarded to James Lovelock, the originator of the Gaia hypothesis.

=Medals awarded by the Society=

Aberconway Medal
Bigsby Medal
Dewey Medal{{Cite web |title=Dewey Medal |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards/Dewey-Medal |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521061410/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards/Dewey-Medal |url-status=live }}
Distinguished Service Award{{Cite web |title=Distinguished Service Award |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards/Distinguished-Service-Award |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521061419/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards/Distinguished-Service-Award |url-status=live }}
Lyell Medal
Major John Sacheverell A'Deane Coke Medal{{Cite web |title=The Major John Sacheverell A'Deane Coke and Major Edward D'Ewes Fitzgerald Coke Medals |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards/Coke-Medals |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=15 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215075714/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/Awards-Grants-and-Bursaries/Society-Awards/Coke-Medals |url-status=live }}
Major Edward D'Ewes Fitzgerald Coke Medal
Murchison Medal
President's Awards{{Cite web |title=President's Awards |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/presidents-awards |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314232205/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/presidents-awards |url-status=live }}
Prestwich Medal
R. H. Worth Award{{Cite web |title=R H Worth Award |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/r-h-worth-award |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314230515/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/r-h-worth-award |url-status=live }}
Sue Tyler Friedman Medal
William Smith Medal
Wollaston Medal

=Funds administered by the Society=

Lyell Fund{{Cite web |title=Lyell Fund |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/lyell-fund |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=2 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202113319/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/lyell-fund |url-status=live }}
Murchison Fund
Wollaston Fund{{Cite web |title=Wollaston Fund |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/wollaston-fund |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=4 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004002608/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/wollaston-fund |url-status=live }}
William Smith Fund{{Cite web |title=William Smith Fund |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/william-smith-fund |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=The Geological Society of London |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201013829/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/william-smith-fund |url-status=live }}

Bibliography

Herries Davies, G.L. (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=8j-nmabapH0C Whatever is Under the Earth: The Geological Society of London 1807 to 2007], London : Geological Society, {{ISBN|1-86239-214-5}}