Rudolph (Silas) Glossop: some fragments and family memories

Abstract

Not long after my father died at the age of 91 in 1993 my mother told me that a lecture and award were proposed in his name. She was very pleased and in 1997 when she was asked to attend and to present the prizes we were all very gratified, and the family have enjoyed the connection to the event ever since. It has not happened every year and it has varied in its grandeur but many images remain in our minds: the enormous rock that had crashed through the roof of a fisherman's hut on the harbour at St Helena; the climbers drilling screws into the Irish cliff to stabilize it to preserve the library that had been built at the top; the rocks bouncing across the floor of a quarry; the lovely old library of the Geological Society in the early years; the Geographical Society with the photographs of famous explorers on the walls of the staircase; the meals in the Polish Club; and now the Royal Institution. Such a splendid geotechnical affair would have delighted my father. We have learnt a good deal and enjoyed visiting the world of geologists and engineers. If only once a year, it does bring back memories of my father.