A pioneering geophysicist: Rosemary Hutton

Abstract

AbstractViolet Rosemary Strachan Hutton (‘Rosemary’) graduated from St Andrews University in 1948 and a few years thereafter embarked upon a pioneering career in geophysics, a rare and challenging choice for a single woman at that time. Her impressive research career, starting in 1954, was largely devoted to the investigation of how geophysical methods, in particular electromagnetic techniques, could reveal the structure of the Earth's continental crust and upper mantle. She spent 15 years in Africa at the universities of Ghana, Zaria and Ibadan. Working in comparative isolation, she studied the equatorial electrojet and micropulsations and produced 13 high-quality papers of which three, including her first, were published in Nature. This demonstrated a remarkable combination of resourcefulness and self-reliance. In 1969, she joined the University of Edinburgh Geophysics Department and remained at the cutting edge of her science until retirement, investigating crustal electrical conductivity structure, continental rift systems, geothermal regions, geomagnetic source fields and the closure of the Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean. She inaugurated the now highly-successful biennial series of Workshops on Electromagnetic Induction – a high point in the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy calendar. To recognize her contributions, the ‘V.R.S Hutton Symposium’ was held by the European Geophysical Society in 1992. She was elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in recognition of her pioneering and outstanding contributions.