astronomy

Gordon Leslie Herries Davies

Gordon Leslie Herries Davies is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gordon Leslie Herries Davies rather than just read about it. In short: Gordon Leslie Herries Davies (born Gordon Leslie Davies; 18 January 1932 in Manchester – 22 February 2019 in North Uist, Scotland) was a British and Irish geographer, specializing in geomorphology, and a historian of geography and geology. He was the president of the Geographical Society of Ireland from 1962 to 1964.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Gordon Leslie Herries Davies (born Gordon Leslie Davies; 18 January 1932 in Manchester – 22 February 2019 in North Uist, Scotland) was a British and Irish geographer, specializing in geomorphology, and a historian of geography and geology. He was the president of the Geographical Society of Ireland from 1962 to 1964.

Biography As a child at the beginning of WW II, he was evacuated to Blackpool, but returned to Manchester after a brief time. G. L. Davies matriculated in 1949 to read geography at the University of Manchester. There, he graduated in 1953 with an M.A. and a thesis on geomorphology in North Wales. In October 1954 he joined the academic staff of Trinity College Dublin (TCD). In TCD's department of geography, he was an Assistant Lecturer from 1954 to 1957, a Lecturer from 1957 to 1970, and an Associate Professor from 1970 to 1989, when he when retired with emeritus status. In 1967 he was elected to Fellowship of TCD. At TCD he received a second M.A. jure officii on the basis of his academic standing. On sabbatical leave in Oregon, he completed his first book, Earth in Decay (1969), which earned him a Ph.D. from TCD. The book deals with the history of British geomorphology before 1878. In 1977 Gordon Leslie Davies changed his name to "Gordon Leslie Herries Davies" — "Herries" was his mother's surname before her marriage. The reason for the name change was that K. Gordon Davies (1923–1994) was appointed in 1977 to the Erasmus Smith Chair of Modern History at TCD. In November 1980, Davies gave the Ramsbottom Lecture to the Society for the History of Natural History. The lecture entitled The Mapping of Natural Phenomena in 19th Century Ireland was expanded into his 1983 book Sheets of Many Colours. At TCD he served as a College Tutor for a number of years and, later in his career, as a Senior Proctor. He served as editor of the journal Irish Geography from 1968 to 1978 and edited the journal's supplementary volume celebrating its golden jubilee year in 1984. In retirement, Herries Davies expended considerable effort as one of the editors of The Dictionary of Irish Biography. Herries Davies wrote numerous articles published in learned journals and also wrote several important books. He was an excellent writer with a clear expository style. His book The earth in decay (1969) is a significant work in the history of geomorphology. Sheets of many colours (1983) describes Irish geological mapping. North from the Hook (1995) gives a history of the Geological Survey of Ireland. In his 1995 book, he emphasizes that collecting fossils was always a "high priority" for the Geological Survey of Ireland. Whatever is under the Earth (2007) tells the history of the Geological Society of London from 1807 to 2007. In 1978, he published an overview of research on Earth sciences in 23 Irish serial publications from 1787 to 1977. Herries Davies was elected in 1979 as a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He was honoured with the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1996, the History of Geology Award of the Geological Society of America in 1997, and the Founder’s Medal of the Society for the History of Natural History in 2000. Desmond Alfred Gillmor, an emeritus professor at TCD, gave, in a 2019 memorial tribute, a description of the geographical work of Herries Davies. In 1956 he married Kathleen Mary Fryer in Chester. They had two sons.

Selected publications

Articles Davies, G. L. (1956). "The Parish of North Uist". The Scottish Geographical Magazine. 72 (2): 65–80. doi:10.1080/00369225608735636. Davies, Gordon L. (1962). "Joseph Beete Jukes and the rivers of southern Ireland—a century's retrospect". Irish Geography. 4 (4): 221–233. doi:10.1080/00750776209555550. Davies, Gordon L. (1964). "Robert Hooke and his conception of Earth-History". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 75 (4): 493–498. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(64)80024-9. Davies, Gordon L. (1966). "Early British Geomorphology 1578-1705". The Geographical Journal. 132 (2): 252–262. doi:10.2307/1792340. JSTOR 1792340. Davies, Gordon L. (1966). "The Concept of Denudation in Seventeenth-Century England". Journal of the History of Ideas. 27 (2): 278–284. doi:10.2307/2708644. JSTOR 2708644. Davies, G. L. (1969). "The University of Dublin and two pioneers of English geology". Hermathena. 109: 24–36. JSTOR 23040157. Davies, Gordon L. (1970). "Twenty-seven years of Irish geography". Irish Geography. 6 (2): 186–193. doi:10.1080/00750777009555658. Davies, Gordon L. (1977). "The Making of Irish Geography, II: Grenville Arthur James Cole". Irish Geography. 10: 90–94. doi:10.1080/00750777709478931. Herries Davies, Gordon L. (1978). "The Earth Sciences in Irish Serial Publications 1787-1977". Journal of Earth Sciences. 1 (1): 1–23. JSTOR 30002108. Herries Davies, Gordon L. (1979). "The making of Irish geography, IV: The physico-historical society of Ireland, 1744–1752". Irish Geography. 12: 92–98. doi:10.1080/00750777909555746. Archer, Jean B.; Herries Davies, Gordon L. (1981). "Geological Field-Sheets from County Galway by Patrick Ganly (1809?-1899)". Journal of Earth Sciences. 4 (2): 167–179. JSTOR 30002363. Herries Davies, Gordon L. (1983). "Field Evidence in the Earth Sciences". Irish Geography. 16: 95–107. doi:10.1080/00750778309478874. Archer, Jean Barbara; Davies, Gordon Leslie Herries (2000). "Inspiration from Nature and some plays written by John O'Keeffe (1747–1833)". Archives of Natural History. 27: 123–135. doi:10.3366/anh.2000.27.1.123. Herries Davies, Gordon L. (2004). "Our first sixty years: One editor remembers". Irish Geography. 37: 6–14. doi:10.1080/00750770409555825. Herries Davies, Gordon L. (2009). "Jacques-Louis, Comte de Bournon". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 317 (1): 105–113. Bibcode:2009GSLSP.317..105H. doi:10.1144/sp317.4. S2CID 219194608. Davies, Gordon L. Herries (2011). "The Chalk Outlier at Ballydeenlea, Co. Kerry; A Story of Discovery". Irish Journal of Earth Sciences. 29 (1): 27–38. doi:10.1353/ijes.2011.0002. Tinkler, K. J., ed. (11 May 2020). "Chapter 1. On the nature of geo-history, with reflections on the historiography of geomorphology by Gordon L. Herries Davies". The History of Geomorphology. Routledge. pp. 1–10. ISBN 9781000045789.

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gordon Leslie Herries Davies

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gordon Leslie Herries Davies claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gordon Leslie Herries Davies before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gordon Leslie Herries Davies ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gordon Leslie Herries Davies

In research: Gordon Leslie Herries Davies appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gordon Leslie Herries Davies in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gordon Leslie Herries Davies is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1932 births, 2019 deaths, 20th-century British geographers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gordon Leslie Herries Davies outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

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Why does Gordon Leslie Herries Davies matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

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Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

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It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gordon Leslie Herries Davies.