Michael Selby
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Michael Selby
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}}
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| birth_name = Michael John Selby
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1936|01|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Luton, Bedfordshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|01|21|1936|01|13|df=y}}
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| fields = Geomorphology
| workplaces = University of Waikato
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| alma_mater = Keble College, Oxford
University of Waikato
| thesis_title = Runoff, infiltration and soil erodibility studies in the Otutira catchment
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| thesis_year = 1971
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Michael John Selby {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}} (13 January 1936 – 21 January 2018) was a New Zealand geomorphologist, academic, and university administrator. Mount Selby in Antarctica's Britannia Range is named for him.
Biography
Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, on 13 January 1936,{{cite web |url=https://search.ancestry.com.au/myancestry/shoeboxpage.aspx?db=1844&pid=30888 |title=New Zealand, naturalisations, 1843–1981 |year=2010 |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |access-date=23 January 2018 |url-access=subscription }} Selby studied at Keble College, Oxford, gaining a BA(Hons), MA, and DipEd.{{cite journal |year=2010 |title=Obituaries |url=http://www.keble.ox.ac.uk/alumni/publications/Record10.pdf |journal=The Record |publisher=Keble College, Oxford |page=81 |access-date=23 January 2018}}{{cite book |url=https://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/archive/2016/officershonoursstaff/emeritusprofessors.html |chapter=Emeritus Professors |year=2016 |title=University of Waikato Calendar |publisher=University of Waikato |access-date=23 January 2018}}
Selby came to New Zealand on the RMS Rangitata in 1960,{{cite web |url=https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=UKOutwardPassengerLists&h=138575360 |title=UK, outward passenger lists, 1890–1960 |year=2012 |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |access-date=23 January 2018 |url-access=subscription }} and was appointed as a junior lecturer at the Waikato branch of the University of Auckland.{{cite web |url=https://www.waikato.ac.nz/news/archive.shtml?article=210 |title=Long serving staff member honoured |date=27 November 2002 |publisher=University of Waikato |access-date=23 January 2018}} On the establishment of the University of Waikato in 1964, he joined the new Department of Geography, and then the Department of Earth Sciences when it was formed in 1970.{{cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Campbell S. |last2=Lowe |first2=David J. |last3=Tonkin |first3=Philip J. |year=2015 |title=The working life of John McCraw (1925–2014): a remarkable New Zealand pedologist and earth scientist |url=https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/10623/Nelson%20et%20al_2015_McCraw%20obit_Hist%20Jl%20GSNZ.pdf?sequence=3 |journal=Journal of the Historical Studies Group (Geoscience Society of New Zealand) |issue=50 |pages=2–29 |access-date=23 January 2018}}{{cite journal |last=Lowe |first=David J. |year=2002 |title=Retirement of Michael Selby |url=https://securepages.co.nz/~gsnz/siteadmin/uploaded/gs_downloads/Newsletter/GeoSoc_Nos121-151_2000-March2010.zip |journal=Geological Society of New Zealand Newsletter |issue=129 |pages=44–45 |access-date=23 January 2018}} The following year, he completed a DPhil: the title of his doctoral thesis was Runoff, infiltration and soil erodibility studies in the Otutira catchment.{{cite web |url=https://waikato-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=64WAIKATO_ALMA2144906820003401&context=L&vid=64WAIKATO&search_scope=WAIKATO_ALL&tab=waikato_all&lang=en_US |title=Catalogue search |publisher=University of Waikato Library |access-date=23 January 2018}} He was later awarded a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Oxford on the basis of his research linking concepts in geomorphology with quantitative measurements in engineering geology.
Selby took part in either three or four field expeditions to Antarctica, including in 1968–69, 1971–72, and 1978–79. On the first of these, he became the first geomorphologist to travel to Antarctica.{{cite web |url=https://www.waikato.ac.nz/about/50/history/researchers-make-their-mark.shtml |title=Researchers make their mark |year=2014 |publisher=University of Waikato |access-date=23 January 2018}} The 1978–79 trip to the Britannia Range–Darwin Glacier region was led by Selby, and mapped exposures in the McCraw Glacier area, and discovered iron meteorites on Derrick Peak. Selby also made expeditions to the Sahara, Namib, and Atacama Deserts, as well as to the Himalayas and Colorado. He also visited the Eastern Mediterranean after developing a research interest in archaeology and human evolution and dispersion. In 1980, Selby was appointed as a professor of earth sciences at Waikato. During his academic career, he wrote six books and more than 80 refereed scientific papers.
In the later part of his career, Selby was part of the senior administrative team at Waikato, and served as deputy vice-chancellor (research). He took part in the Treaty of Waitangi negotiations with Waikato Tainui relating to the ownership of the university campus. On his retirement from Waikato in 2002, Selby was granted the title of emeritus professor. He continued to serve the university as chair of the University of Waikato Foundation and as a director of companies commercialising research at the university.
Selby became a naturalised New Zealander in 1980. He died on 21 January 2018.{{cite news | url=http://notices.nzherald.co.nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/obituary.aspx?n=michael-john-selby&pid=187929405 | title=Michael Selby death notice | date=23 January 2018 | work=New Zealand Herald | access-date=23 January 2018}}
Honours and honorific eponym
In the 2005 New Year Honours, Selby was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to education.{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2005 | title=New Year honours list 2005 |date=31 December 2004 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | access-date=23 January 2018}}
A peak in the Britannia Range in Antarctica was named Mount Selby, in honour of Selby, by the New Zealand Antarctic Placenames Committee.{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 13545| name = Mount Selby | accessdate = 23 January 2018}}
Selected works
- {{cite book |last=Selby |first=Michael |title=The surface of the Earth (2 volumes) |year=1967 |publisher=Cassell |location=London}}
- {{cite book |last=Selby |first=Michael |title=Hillslope materials and processes |year=1982 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=019874126X}}
- {{cite book |last=Selby |first=Michael |title=Earth's changing surface: an introduction to geomorphology |year=1985 |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford |isbn=0198232527 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/earthschangingsu00selb }}
References
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Category:Alumni of Keble College, Oxford
Category:English emigrants to New Zealand
Category:Naturalised citizens of New Zealand
Category:Academic staff of the University of Waikato
Category:New Zealand geomorphologists