Background
Godwin, Harry was born on May 9, 1901 in Rotherham, England. Son of Charles William Thomas and Mary Jane (Grainger) Godwin.
Godwin, Harry was born on May 9, 1901 in Rotherham, England. Son of Charles William Thomas and Mary Jane (Grainger) Godwin.
He had a successful school career and gained scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge in 1918, gaining his Doctor of Philosophy in 1926.
He is considered to be an influential peatland scientist, who coined the phrase "peat archives" in 1981. He had a long association with Clare College, Cambridge. He was to be closely involved with Clare College for the rest of his life.
"In a peat profile there is a fossilized record of changes over time in the vegetation, pollen, spores, animals (from microscopic to the giant elk), and archaeological remains that have been deposited in place, as well as pollen, spores and particles brought in by wind and weather.
These remains are collectively termed the peat archives.".
(Sir Harry Godwin has written a companion volume to his wi...)
Fellow Clare College, Cambridge (England) University, from 1925, botanist U. Cambridge, from 1923, head subordinate department quaternary research, 1948-1966, head department.botany, 1960-1968. Member Nature Conservancy, London, 1949-1954, 65-72. Created knight, 1970.
Fellow Royal Society, London (Croonian lecturer 1960).
Member American Academy Arts and Sciences (honorary foreign), British Ecological Society (president 1943), Royal Irish Academy (honorary), Royal Society New Zealand (honorary), Royal Danish Academy (foreign), German Academy Science (foreign), Royal Science Society Uppsala (foreign), Botanical Society American (correspondent), Botanical Society Edinburgh (honorary), Quaternary Research Association (honorary), Botanical Society Göteborg (correspondent), Societas pro Fauna et flora Fennica (foreign).
Married Margaret Elizabeth Daniels, September 12, 1927. 1 child David.