The Fourth Glossop Lecture

Abstract

Professor John Hutchinson is the Emeritus Professor of Engineering Geomorphology and a Senior Research Fellow at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Chartered Geologist and is eminently qualified to be the Fourth Glossop Lecturer.⇓ Fig. 1. John was born in Coventry in 1926 and (like Professor Fred Shotton before him) was educated at Bablake School. In 1944 he went up to the University of Birmingham to read civil engineering. He was enthused by the excellent geology courses provided under Professor L. J. Wills, which leavened a programme that was otherwise heavily structures-orientated, and nearly switched to geology at the end of the first year. He graduated in civil engineering in 1947 with first class honours and was invited to continue in doctoral research into the strength of bolted aluminium joints. This he declined, preferring to work with the contractor, R. M. Douglas, mostly on open-cast coal sites and heavy industrial foundations. In 1950, inspired by Sir Martin Conway's example, he made, with a friend, a three-month …