She was an expert in glaciation and I remember using her book on periglaciation when I started teaching in the late 1980s and wondering how you pronounced her name... She was very proud of her name.
There was also her book with John Cole, who I blogged about recently, on Quantitative Methods which I also remember being in the departmental library back then.
She studied at Cambridge University and earned her bachelor's degree in geography in 1942. She then joined the Women's Royal Naval Service and became a meteorologist and surveyor for the duration of World War II. After her service, she returned to Cambridge and researched sand movement on beaches, earning her doctorate in 1949.
King spent her career studying the influence of glaciers on landscape evolution. She went on expeditions to Skaftafell in Iceland in 1953 and 1954 to study the glaciers there. It was unusual at that time for young women to be allowed to participate in fieldwork in such remote, rudimentary areas of Iceland. The expeditions resulted in a series of papers in 1955 and 1956. Because of her gender, her participation in fieldwork trips was discouraged. However, she participated in research on Baffin Island in the 1960s and the Austerdalsbreen glacier in Norway, and led fieldwork expeditions of her own throughout the Arctic. She published several books throughout her career.
A Yorkshire Post piece said:
With characteristic modesty, she said more than once that her “only achievement” had been to “pave the way for gender equality in Arctic exploration,” recalling the research she undertook on Baffin Island in the far north of Canada in the mid-1960s with the eminent geologist, Prof Jack D Ives, a former student of hers at Nottingham University.
A Yorkshire Post piece said:
With characteristic modesty, she said more than once that her “only achievement” had been to “pave the way for gender equality in Arctic exploration,” recalling the research she undertook on Baffin Island in the far north of Canada in the mid-1960s with the eminent geologist, Prof Jack D Ives, a former student of hers at Nottingham University.
This piece threw up another link:
King was taught by Professor Frank Debenham, another former GA President - from 1952 in fact.
In 1959, King began teaching at the University of Nottingham, where she remained for the rest of her career. A research laboratory is named in her honour.
King was one of the earliest women to become a professor of geography in the United Kingdom, and she retired in 1982 - she may have gained that honour earlier if not for discrimination. Cuchlaine King was honoured with the David Linton Award of the British Society for Geomorphology in 1991.
In 1959, King began teaching at the University of Nottingham, where she remained for the rest of her career. A research laboratory is named in her honour.
King was one of the earliest women to become a professor of geography in the United Kingdom, and she retired in 1982 - she may have gained that honour earlier if not for discrimination. Cuchlaine King was honoured with the David Linton Award of the British Society for Geomorphology in 1991.
The Linton Award is named after the former GA President who has appeared already on this blog.
A full obituary was published in the latest issue of the Geographical Journal of the RGS-IBG.
To finish, a story I liked:
Enjoying a picnic while on a field trip to Lunedale in the Pennines, Cuchlaine King and her group of geography students were approached by an inquisitive sheep. It came close enough for Cuchlaine to offer it a bite of her sandwich, which it accepted with gusto.
“That was so sweet,” one of the students said. “What sort of sandwich was it?” “Lamb,” came the reply.
Sources
Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuchlaine_King
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9Pc-KlQ3I54C&lpg=PA90&dq=cuchlaine%20king%20nottingham&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false
Brian Whalley wrote an obituary for 'The Guardian'
A full obituary was published in the latest issue of the Geographical Journal of the RGS-IBG.
To finish, a story I liked:
Enjoying a picnic while on a field trip to Lunedale in the Pennines, Cuchlaine King and her group of geography students were approached by an inquisitive sheep. It came close enough for Cuchlaine to offer it a bite of her sandwich, which it accepted with gusto.
“That was so sweet,” one of the students said. “What sort of sandwich was it?” “Lamb,” came the reply.
Sources
Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuchlaine_King
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9Pc-KlQ3I54C&lpg=PA90&dq=cuchlaine%20king%20nottingham&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false
Brian Whalley wrote an obituary for 'The Guardian'
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