A biography and obituary of William G. Chaloner 1 FRS (1928–2016)

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Abstract

William G. (‘Bill’) Chaloner FRS (1928–2016) was one of the world’s leading
palaeobotanists and palynologists. He developed a love of natural science at school which led,to a penchant for palaeobotany at university. Bill graduated in 1950 from the University of Reading, and remained there for his PhD on the spores of Carboniferous lycopods supervised by Tom Harris. After completing his PhD in 1953, Bill undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in the USA. He returned to the UK and, in 1956, began a long and distinguished academic career at four colleges of the University of London. His first position was at University College London, where he continued to work on Paleozoic palaeobotany and palynology. His 1958 paper on the effects of fluctuating sea levels on Carboniferous pollen-spore assemblages proved highly influential. Bill moved to a Chair at Birkbeck College in 1972, began to use the
scanning electron microscope and was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 1976. He is the only pre-Quaternary palaeopalynologist to have been given the latter honour. In 1979, Bill was appointed to the Chair of Botany at Bedford College where he began to apply plant fossil evidence to general scientific problems. He began to work on arthropod-plant nteractions, fossil charcoal and growth rings in wood. Bill was awarded the Medal for Scientific Excellence by the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists in 1984. Bedford College and Royal Holloway College merged in 1985, and Bill moved to the amalgamated institution. Bill continued to investigate very diverse topics, and added the analysis of leaf stomata, global environmental change and molecular palaeontology to his portfolio. Following retirement in 1994, Bill continued his research and 31 teaching at Royal Holloway, University of London. His final paper was published in 2016, bringing to an end a research career of 66 years.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-40
Number of pages40
JournalPalynology
Early online date22 Feb 2019
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 22 Feb 2019

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