Sir Percy Edward Kent (18 March 1913 – 9 July 1986) was a British geologist who won the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

in 1971. Awarded the

Bigsby Medal The Bigsby Medal is a medal of the Geological Society of London established by John Jeremiah Bigsby. Recipients SourcThe Geological Society See also * List of geology awards * Prizes named after people This is a list of awards that are na ...

in 1955 and the

Murchison Medal The Murchison Medal is an academic award established by Roderick Murchison, who died in 1871. First awarded in 1873, it is normally given to people who have made a significant contribution to geology by means of a substantial body of research an ...

in 1969, he was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the

1973 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1973 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 2 June 1973 for ...

Early life

He attended West Bridgford Grammar School. From the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

he gained a BSc in 1934, and a PhD in 1941.

Career

P.E. Kent joined

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

and

Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul (mammal), Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now ...

in their 1935 investigation of

Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropology, paleoanthropological localities in the world; the many sites exposed by the gorge have proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evo ...

. He was Chief Geologist from 1966 to 1971 of BP. In 1969-1970 he served as the President of the

Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union Lincolnshire Naturalist's Union (LNU) is an association of amateur naturalists covering a wide range of natural history subjects. It was founded in 1893 and aims to promote the investigation of the fauna, flora, and physical features of the count ...

, where he already served as the sectional officer for geology. From 1974 to 1976 he was President of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

Personal life

He married Margaret (Betty) Hood in 1940, and they had two daughters, one of whom is Helen Cooper. His first wife died in 1974. In 1976 he married Lorna Scott. He lived in

West Bridgford West Bridgford () is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies south of Nottingham city centre, east of Wilford, north of Ruddington and west of Radcliffe-on-Trent ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Percy Edward 1913 births 1986 deaths Royal Medal winners 20th-century British geologists BP people Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Geological Society of London Knights Bachelor People from West Bridgford People educated at West Bridgford School Alumni of the University of Nottingham Members of the Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union Presidents of the Geological Society of London