Background
Brown, George Malcolm was born on October 5, 1925. Son of George A. Brown and Anne Brown.
Brown, George Malcolm was born on October 5, 1925. Son of George A. Brown and Anne Brown.
Coatham School, Redcar and University of Durham and Oxford.
His formidable reputation as an igneous petrologist enabled him to become one of the few scientists invited by National Aeronautics and Space Administration to work on the moon rock samples recovered from the Apollo 11 lunar mission. Following a period in the Royal Air Force, he entered the geology department of Durham University in 1947, graduating with First Class in 1950. The Professor of Geology, Lawrence Wager recognised Brown"s abilities, and took him with him as a research student following his move to the Chair in Geology at Oxford University.
Brown"s research centred on the ultrabasic complex of Rhum, Scotland and built upon earlier work undertaken by West.A. Deer and L.R. Wager.
He received his Doctorate.Phil in 1954. Expeditions to Greenland to research the Skaergaard intrusion led Brown to a one-year Harkness Fellowship at Princeton University.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 1955 as a lecturer at Oxford University where his research involved the igneous intrusions of Skye, Scotland. He returned to Durham University as Professor of Geology in 1967, which served to strengthen that department"s already enviable reputation.
lieutenant was during his time at Durham that Brown was invited by National Aeronautics and Space Administration to undertake work on the Apollo 11 lunar samples.
A story told to Durham geology undergraduates is that Brown accidentally left the box containing the samples on a train from London, only later to discover that National Aeronautics and Space Administration had delivered the genuine samples by secure delivery direct to Durham. The true story is that after appearing on the television programme "Tomorrow"s World", Professor Brown"s train from London to Durham broke down at Darlington, and he had to travel by police escort to Durham. This prompted local newspaper headlines "Americans transport moon rock 250,000 miles, BR (British Rail) couldn"t take it 14 miles from Darlington to Durham" His work on the lunar samples secured his worldwide reputation.
Like another Durham University geologist before him, Kingsley Dunham, Brown was appointed Director of the British Geological Survey in 1979.
During a very difficult time for this Government institution, Brown successfully led a move of its headquarters from London to a site at Keyworth, near Nottingham. He was knighted upon retirement in 1985.
Royal Society.
Married 1st Valerie J. Gale in 1963 (dissolved in 1977). Married 2nd Sally J. Marston in 1985.