Richard Arthur Reyment: Father of the International Association for Mathematical Geology

Abstract

Richard Arthur Reyment was born of parents of English, Swedish, and Spanish descent in Coburg, Victoria, Australia on 4 December 1926. After obtaining his bachelor degree from Melbourne University in 1948 he spent several years with the British Colonial Service in Nigeria. While there he obtained his masters degree from Melbourne and a doctorate from the University of Stockholm (Sweden). His work in Nigeria led to the appointment as professor at the University of Ibadan. He returned to Sweden in 1965 with an appointment from the Swedish Natural Science Research Council. In 1967 he was awarded his DSc from Melbourne University and was appointed to the Chair of Historical Geology and Paleontology at the University of Uppsala (Sweden), where he remained until his retirement in 1991. His early studies on random events, multivariate morphometrics, and statistical analysis in geology and biology naturally led him into the quantitative aspects of his chosen profession, and whetted his desire to share these experiences with others with similar interests. This, he decided, could best be accomplished through an organization to promote quantitative methods and approaches, which led to his concept of the International Association for Mathematical Geology (IAMG). His efforts and enthusiasm resulted in the founding of the Association at the ill-fated International Geological Congress (IGC) in Prague in 1968. Reyment was elected the first IAMG secretary general and later the second president. The IAMG is affiliated with both the IGC and the International Statistical Institute (ISI). In recognition of his scientific accomplishments he was awarded IAMG's highest award, the William Christian Krumbein Medal, in 1979 and a special Certificate of Merit in 2002. Reyment's pioneering efforts have influenced a generation of geologists and paleontologists.