| Description | Oral history interview: David Vincent interviewed by Nina Morgan about his life and geological career, carried out as part of a History of Geology Group (HOGG) project originating around the time of the bicentenary of the Society.
Recording location: Interviewee's home (Wytham, Oxfordshire)
Duration: 01:02:37
Childhood and schooling, studying Chemistry at the University of Reading (1936-1940), working in explosives chemical analysis and manufacture in the west of Scotland during WWII [ROF Dalmuir?], wanting to work in geology after the war, and being offered an academic job at Durham by Lawrence Wager (00:28-07:13); working in Durham (1946-1951), as well as completing a PhD related to Wager's work in Greenland, following Wager to Oxford in 1951, setting up a [rock analysis?] laboratory first at Durham then at Oxford, carrying out rock and mineral analysis manually, learning and using neutron activation analysis (NAA) (07:14-16:38); working as Head of Department at Manchester University (1962-1966), returning to Oxford in 1967 to replace Wager as Head of Department after his death, issues when running the department, such as the difficult working relationship between Stephen Moorbath and Merl Gale[?], and the legacy of Wager (16:39-31:48); retirement in 1986, coming to Oxford University in 1951 as an outsider, and interviewee's 90th birthday celebrations (31:49-38:49); how technology has changed the practice of geochemistry, and the (non-)value of geology to mankind (38:50-48:40); lifelong interest in music, volunteering in Oxford's Mineralogy department's archive, explanation as to why interviewee is known as 'David' rather than 'Ewart', how academia and geology in general have changed over interviewee's lifetime, and interviewee's involvement with scientific societies (48:41-01:02:37).
[Recording stops mid-sentence.] |