earth science

John G. Ramsay

John G. Ramsay is a earth science 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 John G. Ramsay rather than just read about it. In short: John Graham Ramsay (17 June 1931 – 12 January 2021) was a British structural geologist who was a professor at Imperial College London, the University of Leeds and the University of Zurich. Career Born in Edmonton, suburban London, in 1931, John Graham Ramsay took his bachelor's degree in geology at the Imperial College of Science and Technology (Imperial), University of London graduating with first class honours in…

Key takeaways

John G. Ramsay belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John G. Ramsay to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John G. Ramsay from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Graham Ramsay (17 June 1931 – 12 January 2021) was a British structural geologist who was a professor at Imperial College London, the University of Leeds and the University of Zurich.

Career Born in Edmonton, suburban London, in 1931, John Graham Ramsay took his bachelor's degree in geology at the Imperial College of Science and Technology (Imperial), University of London graduating with first class honours in 1952 with Dr John Sutton as his mentor. He did his doctoral work in the Loch Monar area of the Scottish Highlands working on the strain patterns seen in intensely deformed and repeatedly folded rocks of the Moine Series and the relationships seen between folded basement and its cover rocks obtaining a PhD in 1954. After undertaking military service as a musician (cellist and tenor drummer) in the Corps of the Royal Engineers of Great Britain, he was appointed to a teaching position at the Geology department of Imperial in 1957. Many of his early fundamental research papers were written whilst at Imperial where he became Professor of structural geology in 1966. In the following year he published his first book, Folding and Fracturing of Rocks, which gained him attention in structural geology. He went on to win awards in his field From 1973 to 1976 he was professor and head of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Leeds. In 1976, he was appointed a professor of geology at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (and University of Zürich), Switzerland; a post he held until he retired in 1992. After retirement, he was made professor emeritus at ETH Zurich.. He held a "Doctorat Honoris Causa" of the University of Rennes, France and was an honorary professor at the University of Cardiff in Wales. Prof. Richard J. Lisle from Cardiff is the co-author of his 4th book on applications of continuum mechanics to structural geology. He undertook extensive field work in the Barberton greenstone belt of South Africa and Zimbabwe, and in the East African rift in Sudan apart from his contributions to the Alpine structural geology before and while at Zurich and the great forte of his, the Caledonian belt of the Scottish Highlands. He continued to do structural geology research work until the end of his life, and made structural field studies in the Moine thrust zone of northwest highlands of Scotland as an Honorary Research Adviser to the Geological Survey of UK and Ireland. Although officially retired from active geological teaching at ETH Zürich, he continued to teach violoncello (he always loved playing cello) and Chamber Music performance in Isirac, France and was actively engaged in musical compositions. John Ramsay was author and co-author of four books and many papers in structural geology. He always was of the opinion that the structures actually observed in naturally deformed rocks form the key to our understanding of the tectonic processes and that the development of mechanical models for the origin of these structures must always be compared with natural observations if they are to be truly relevant. This was probably the reason why in all his papers, the theoretical part is first supplemented by experimental simulation followed by photographs of natural examples.

Honours Ramsay's work in advancing structural geology was recognised by the awards of the Bigsby (1973) and Wollaston (1986) medals of the Geological Society of London, the Société Géologique de France Prestwich Medal in 1989, Sir Arthur Holmes Medal of the European Union of Geosciences (EGU) in 1984, C. T. Clough medal (1962) of the Edinburgh Geological Society, and the University of Liège medal in 1988. He was named a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's 1992 Birthday Honours list. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1973 and held Honorary Fellowships of the Geological Society of America, the Société Géologique de France, the Indian National Science Academy, the American Geophysical Union, and the US National Academy of Sciences.

Awards 1973 Bigsby Medal 1986 Wollaston Medal 1992 Arthur Holmes Medal

Family Ramsay was married to Dorothee. They retired to the village of Issirac in the Ardeche, France. Ramsay died in Zurich, Switzerland on 12 January 2021, aged 89.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John G. Ramsay

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John G. Ramsay claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, 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 John G. Ramsay 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 John G. Ramsay 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 John G. Ramsay

In research: John G. Ramsay appears in earth science 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 John G. Ramsay 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: John G. Ramsay is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1931 births, 2021 deaths, Academics of Imperial College London, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John G. Ramsay 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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How to study John G. Ramsay in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John G. Ramsay means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John G. Ramsay out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John G. Ramsay in simple terms?

John Graham Ramsay (17 June 1931 – 12 January 2021) was a British structural geologist who was a professor at Imperial College London, the University of Leeds and the University of Zurich. Career Born in Edmonton, suburban London, in 1931, John Graham Ramsay took his bachelor's degree in geology at…

Why does John G. Ramsay matter?

Because it connects several earth science 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.

How should I study John G. Ramsay?

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.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John G. Ramsay.