Mary Fowler | |
---|---|
Master of Darwin College, Cambridge | |
In office October 2012 – September 2020 | |
Preceded by | William Brown |
Succeeded by | Mike Rands |
Personal details | |
Born | Christine Mary Rutherford Fowler 1950 (age 73–74) |
Citizenship | United Kingdom |
Nationality | British |
Spouse |
Euan Nisbet (
m. 1975) |
Children | Three |
Awards | Prestwich Medal of the Geological Society of London (1996) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater |
Girton College, Cambridge Darwin College, Cambridge |
Thesis | Seismic Studies of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (1976) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Geology |
Sub-discipline | |
Institutions | |
Christine Mary Rutherford Fowler, FRAS, FGS, FRCGS (born 1950) is a British geologist and academic. From 2012 to 2020, she served as the Master of Darwin College, Cambridge. She was previously a lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, rising to become Dean of its Faculty of Science.
Fowler was born in 1950 to Rosemary and Peter Fowler. [1] She comes from a family of eminent scientists. A great-grandfather was Ernest Rutherford, the 'father of nuclear physics', and her grandfather, Rutherford's son-in-law, was the mathematical physicist Ralph H. Fowler. [2]
She studied mathematics at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1972. [2] [3] In 1972 she joined Darwin College, Cambridge to undertake post-graduate studies in geophysics and completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1976. [4] Her doctoral thesis was titled "Seismic Studies of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge". [5]
From 1977 to 1978, Fowler was a Royal Society European Fellow at ETH Zürich in Switzerland. [3] She joined the University of Saskatchewan in Canada as a research associate in 1981. [3] [6] She was an assistant professor from 1982 to 1983, before returning to her research associate position. [3] She remained associated with the university as an adjunct professor between 1991 and 2001. [3]
In 1992, Fowler joined Royal Holloway, University of London as a lecturer; she was later promoted to senior lecturer. [3] [7] Between 2002 and 2008, she was head of the Department of Earth Sciences. [7] She was made Professor of Geophysics in 2003. [3] In 2011, she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science. [3]
In April 2012, it was announced that Fowler had been elected the sixth Master of Darwin College, Cambridge. [2] She took up the appointment in October 2012, succeeding William Brown. [6] She retired in 2020 and was succeeded by Dr Michael Rands. [8]
In 1975, Fowler married Euan Nisbet, now a Professor of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway. [3] [9] [10] They met at Darwin college, Cambridge while students. [2] [9] Together, they have three children: two daughters and a son. [3] Their daughter (Ruth) Ellen Nisbet, who is a biochemist and academic, also studied at Darwin College, Cambridge. [2]
In 1996, Fowler was awarded the Prestwich Medal by the Geological Society of London. [11] She is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS), a Fellow of the Geological Society of London (FGS), and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (FRCGS). [6] In July 2018, Fowler was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) by the University of Leeds, [12] and by the University of Edinburgh. [13]