earth science

Thomas Stanley Westoll

Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas Stanley Westoll (3 July 1912 – 19 September 1995) was a British geologist, and the long-time head of the Department of Geology at Newcastle University. Education and career He was born in West Hartlepool the son of Horace Stanley Raine Westoll.

Key takeaways

Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thomas Stanley Westoll from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thomas Stanley Westoll (3 July 1912 – 19 September 1995) was a British geologist, and the long-time head of the Department of Geology at Newcastle University.

Education and career He was born in West Hartlepool the son of Horace Stanley Raine Westoll. He was educated at the West Hartlepool Grammar School. He then studied Sciences on a scholarship at Durham University, specialising in geology and palaeontology, graduating BSc in 1932. Continuing as a postgraduate he gained his first doctorate (PhD) in 1934 from research on Permian fishes. In 1937 he began lecturing in Geology and Mineralogy at Aberdeen University, his central interest being the study of fossil fish. In 1943 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Robert MacFarlane Neill, Thomas Phemister, Ernest Cruickshank, and James Robert Matthews. Aberdeen University awarded him his second doctorate (DSc). In 1948 he left Aberdeen to return to England as Professor of Geology at the University of Newcastle, staying there until his retirement in 1977. In retirement he remained as a research fellow and Chairman of Convocation. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in March 1952. The citation on his application read: "Westoll is a palaeontologist who by his description of new materials and by the introduction of new and fertile ideas into the interpretation of the structure of early fossil vertebrates has greatly increased our understanding of the problems they present. He has introduced new views about the origins of the pectoral fins of craniates and of the Tetrapod limb. He has clarified our ideas about the homologies of the dermal skull bones of vertebrates and made a new and convincing comparison between the skulls of Amphibia and Fish. He has made important contributions towards the solution of the old problems of the origin of the mammalian palate and ear. His monograph of the Haplolepidae sets a new standard for taxonomic work on fossil fish". He was on the council of the Royal Society and from 1972 to 1974 was President of the Geological Society of London. He died in Newcastle upon Tyne on 19 September 1995.

Family He married twice: firstly in 1939 to Dorothy Cecil Isobel Wood, then, following divorce in 1951, in 1952 he married Barbara Swanson McAdie.

Research interests His research interests were wide-ranging, but he is best known for his work on the evolution of fish. The development of the tetrapod limb and issues with the Silurian-Devonian boundary were some of the topics which occupied him. Throughout a long academic career he made forceful and important contributions in these and other fields. A genus or early Permian ray-finned fish, Westollia White & Moy-Thomas, 1940, is named in his honour.

Publications Studies on Fossil Vertebrates (1958) Geology of the USSR (1973)

References

External links Royal Society of Edinburgh Obituaries

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas Stanley Westoll

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll

In research: Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll 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: Thomas Stanley Westoll is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1912 births, 1995 deaths, 20th-century English geologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas Stanley Westoll 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Thomas Stanley Westoll” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Thomas Stanley Westoll in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas Stanley Westoll in simple terms?

Thomas Stanley Westoll (3 July 1912 – 19 September 1995) was a British geologist, and the long-time head of the Department of Geology at Newcastle University. Education and career He was born in West Hartlepool the son of Horace Stanley Raine Westoll.

Why does Thomas Stanley Westoll 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 Thomas Stanley Westoll?

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 Thomas Stanley Westoll.