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Percy Evans (geologist)

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Percy Evans
Born1892
Died14 December 1974(1974-12-14) (aged 81–82)
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Known forOilfields of India
SpouseEnid Evans
AwardsMurchison Medal (1947)
Scientific career
InstitutionsThe Burmah Oil Company

Percy Evans (1892 – 14 December 1974) was a British geologist who worked extensively on the oil fields of India, and later became Chief Geologist of the Burmah Oil Company. He was awarded the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1947.[1]

Education and career

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Evans studied geology at Trinity College, Cambridge, and joined the Burmah Oil Company in 1915 as a geologist. He spent much of his time working on the geology and structure of the oilfields of Assam, and training geologists in the Burmah Oil company. In 1938, he was appointed Chief Geologist, a position he held until retirement in 1955. He continued as an adviser in retirement.[1]

Professional service

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Evans was president of the Geological section of the Indian Science Congress in 1932, and led two field excursions to Assam in 1964, at the age of 72, for the International Geological Congress.

He was a member of the Geologists' Association from 1914, and a trustee from 1955 to 1964.[1] He was president of the Hertfordshire Natural History society from 1956 to 1958. The society now holds an annual 'Percy Evans Lecture' in his honour.,[2] as do Oil India.[3]

Awards

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Evans’ work was rewarded with a number of accolades. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Mining, Metallurgical and Geological Institute of India, and elected Honorary Fellow in 1964.[1]

He was awarded a silver medal by the Royal Society of the Arts for his 1946 paper on the oilfields of India and Burma.[4][5]

In 1947, he was awarded the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London in recognition of his work on the oilfields of Burma and Assam, and on the geological interpretation of gravitational surveys.[6] He was elected Honorary Member of the Geologists Association in 1968.

Family

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Evans was married to Enid, who was also a geologist. During retirement, both worked on a project on the geology of Hertfordshire, which was later developed into a book by John Catt.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d H.R.T. (1975). "Obituary Notice". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 86: 121–122. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(75)80015-0.
  2. ^ "Percy Evans Lecture: The Norber Erratics - Hertfordshire Geological Society". November 19, 2022.
  3. ^ Desk, Sentinel Digital (February 20, 2020). "Second Percy Evans Memorial Lecture held at Zaloni Club". Sentinel Assam. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Evans, Percy (1946). "THE OILFIELDS OF INDIA AND BURMA". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 94 (4717): 369–379 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ Bennett, Viscount (1946). "OPENING OF THE 193rd SESSION". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 95 (4731): 7–16 – via JSTOR.
  6. ^ "Geological Society Awards". Nature. 159: 123. 1947. doi:10.1038/159123b0.
  7. ^ "The Geological Society of London - Hertfordshire Geology and Landscape: the background". www.geolsoc.org.uk.