One of the leading lights of the post-war generation of marine geologists and ocean scientists, has been made an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton.
Throughout a long and distinguished career, Sir Anthony Laughton FRS, now 92 years old, was instrumental in establishing oceanography and marine geology as serious scientific disciplines and revolutionised our abilities to understand major processes in the oceans and the sediments and rocks beneath. Thanks to his many technological innovations, Sir Anthony contributed significantly to the development and acceptance of the theory of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading that provide the basic template for our understanding of the Earth.
Sir Anthony was Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS), one of the fore-runner organisations that merged to form the Southampton Oceanography Centre (now National Oceanography Centre Southampton). He was one of the group who planned the co-location of the University of Southampton’s Geology and Oceanography Departments with government scientists to form one of the world’s leading oceanographic centres.
“Thank you for this award which, for me, has been a humbling experience about how my life has developed over the years,” said Sir Anthony. “It is something that at my rather my ripe old age I didn’t expect to happen!”
Professor Damon Teagle, Professor of Geochemistry in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Director of the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, made the nomination that led to Sir Anthony receiving his Honorary Doctorate.
“Sir Anthony had a wonderful and wide-ranging career during the heroic post-war years when marine geology and oceanography developed into mature sciences, but it is particularly for his early engagement with and leadership of the UK’s involvement in the Deep Sea Drilling Project that spurred this nomination,” said Professor Teagle. “International collaboration in scientific ocean drilling continues today with Southampton scientists heavily involved with planning and leading expeditions all around the world.”
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