Background
John Barrie Thornes was born on the 27th of December, 1940 in Horbury, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, the only child of Edwin Thornes, an engineering foreman, and his wife, Gladys, née Carpenter.
John Barrie Thornes
1967
Senate House, Malet St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom
John Barrie Thornes studied at London University where he gained first-class honors in geography and geology and a Bachelor of Science in 1962 and in 1967 he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from it.
1964
845 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada
In 1964 John Barrie Thornes earned a Master of Science from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
1964
845 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada
In 1964 John Barrie Thornes earned a Master of Science from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
1967
Senate House, Malet St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom
John Barrie Thornes studied at London University where he gained first-class honors in geography and geology and a Bachelor of Science in 1962 and in 1967 he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from it.
https://www.amazon.com/Slope-Profile-Survey-Anthony-Young/dp/0902246364
1974
https://www.amazon.com/Semi-arid-Erosional-Systems-Geographical-Economics/dp/0853280436
1976
(The authors discuss the main trends in research in the la...)
The authors discuss the main trends in research in the last fifty years and compare earlier qualitative methodological approaches with the process and field measurement techniques used mainly in the 1960s and with the significant developments that have taken place recently in analytical model-building. The scientific measurement of time is examined and part of the book deals with mathematical, deterministic and stochastic model-building to introduce the reader to recent conceptual advances and provide a basis for full discussion of factors relating to time in geomorphology.
https://www.amazon.com/Geomorphology-time-John-B-Thornes/dp/0470990708/?tag=2022091-20
1977
(This book provides an account of the development of Europ...)
This book provides an account of the development of European culture and society during the Bronze Age, the time span between c. 2000 and 700 BC. It was a period of remarkable innovation, seen for instance in the development and growth of metallurgy as a major industry, the spread of trading contacts, the origins of urbanism and the beginnings of social stratification.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P2ITD3K/?tag=2022091-20
1979
(Based on a major research program, and originally publish...)
Based on a major research program, and originally published in 1985, this book looked to provide an economic foundation for reinterpreting the Neolithic-Bronze Age sequence of South-east Spain in terms of emergent social complexity. The cultural evolution of the area had already been considered in terms of influence from the eastern Mediterranean but this book uses site catchment analysis to give an economic baseline for all thirty-five of the better-known prehistoric settlements of the region.
https://www.amazon.com/Land-use-Prehistory-South-East-Spain-Gilman/dp/1138817805
1985
(Stressing the significance of vegetation in geomorphology...)
Stressing the significance of vegetation in geomorphology, an often ignored area, it presents the results of the 1988 British Geomorphological Research Group conference, which brought together work in progress or recently completed on plant processes and geomorphological interactions. According to the editor, these results, while encouraging, are only a start, indicating a preponderance of past work dealing with vegetation simply as an extrinsic variable. The text focuses on vegetation as a highly dynamic and vital component that affects virtually all processes and therefore all geomorphological histories. By raising these and other issues, it indicates a variety of avenues for future investigation.
https://www.amazon.com/Vegetation-Erosion-Processes-Environments-Geomorphological/dp/0471926302/?tag=2022091-20
1990
(Desertification is land degradation due to climatic and a...)
Desertification is land degradation due to climatic and anthropogenic causes where land includes soil, water, and the biological productive capacity. This has become a major environmental, economic and political issue in Mediterranean countries. In order to address the problem in the European countries of the Mediterranean, the European Commission established a number of major research projects under its DGXII Environment and Climate Programme MEDALUS. This book describes the results from the first phase of the project, dealing with the local physical, socio-economic and political controls on desertification. In particular, the book concentrates on the models developed, calibrated and validated, the field investigations into biological, hydrological and erosional processes at the seven main sites, and provides an introduction to the problems associated with global warming in the Mediterranean context.
https://www.amazon.com/Mediterranean-Desertification-Land-Use-Brandt/dp/0471942502/?tag=2022091-20
1996
https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Mediterranean-Environments-Europe-Desertification/dp/B01HC0ZJVA/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(In this lucid and accessible study, John Thornes provides...)
In this lucid and accessible study, John Thornes provides a meteorological framework for reading the skies of landscape art, compares Constable's skies to those produced by other artists from the middle ages to the nineteenth century, analyses Constable's own meteorological understanding, and examines the development of his painted skies.
https://www.amazon.com/John-Constables-Skies-Fusion-Science/dp/1902459024/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(Desertification includes land degradation due to both cli...)
Desertification includes land degradation due to both climatic and anthropogenic causes, where land includes water, soil, and the biosphere. This book presents the most recent findings from the European Community's MEDALUS project, which was formed to understand and manage semi-arid environments that are undergoing great change.
https://www.amazon.com/Mediterranean-Desertification-Mosaic-Processes-Responses-ebook/dp/B000QCQU06/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(The Mediterranean has been subject to changing human sett...)
The Mediterranean has been subject to changing human settlement and land use patterns for millennia and has a history of human exploitation in an inherently unstable landscape. Environmental Issues in the Mediterranean reviews both physical and social aspects of this region, in relation to its environment. Ideal for students who are studying a range of environmental issues, but want to see them linked within one regional context.
https://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Issues-Mediterranean-Perspectives-Environment-ebook/dp/B000Q36DP2/?tag=2022091-20
2003
educator geographer geomorphologist author
John Barrie Thornes was born on the 27th of December, 1940 in Horbury, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, the only child of Edwin Thornes, an engineering foreman, and his wife, Gladys, née Carpenter.
John Thornes attended Ossett Grammar School, where he gained a lifelong passion for landscape and the inter‐relationships between rocks, relief, climate, soils, vegetation, and human activity.
John studied at London University where he gained first-class honors in geography and geology and a Bachelor of Science in 1962 and in 1967 he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from it. In 1964 he earned a Master of Science from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Thornes received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Murcia in 2005.
John Barrie Thornes began his career as an assistant lecturer at King's College London, where he served in 1967-1968. From 1968 to 1979 he was a lecturer at the London School of Economics. In 1980 he joined Bedford College London as its professor and Head of Department until 1984. That year John took the position of professor and Head of Department at University Bristol in England where he worked until 1991.
In 1991 Thornes returned to his alma mater, King’s College, where he was appointed a professor of Geomorphology and Head of the Department of Geography until the time of his death. From 1992 he was a coordinator of Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use Concerted Action project (MEDALUS), a European Union-funded environmental research program involving fifty-one universities and field stations in nine European countries. He also was a television weatherman on The Travel Show on BBC-2.
Among his writings are Slope Profile Survey, Geo Abstracts Ltd. with Anthony Young and Denys Brunsden in 1974, with Malcolm W. Clar Non-sequential Water Quality Project in 1975, Semi-Arid Erosional Systems: Case Studies from Spain in 1976, John Constable's Skies: A Fusion of Art and Science in 1999. He has also been a contributor to scientific journals.
John B. Thornes was one of the most influential physical geographers of his generation. He was a strategic thinker who became an enlightened Head of Geography at Bedford College, Bristol University and King's College. He was the driving force behind the European Council Medalus Research programmes and the President who worked tirelessly to bring the Royal Geographical Society and the Institute of British Geographers back together.
Thornes was a prolific author with more than 130 research papers and book chapters, 11 major books and numerous EU research documents.
The Royal Geographical Society awarded him its Patron’s Medal in 1996 and John won the Linton Medal of the British Geomorphologists Research Group in 1998. John Barrie Thornes was listed as a noteworthy Geography educator by Marquis Who's Who.
(In this lucid and accessible study, John Thornes provides...)
1999(The authors discuss the main trends in research in the la...)
1977(Stressing the significance of vegetation in geomorphology...)
1990(Based on a major research program, and originally publish...)
1985(The Mediterranean has been subject to changing human sett...)
2003(Desertification is land degradation due to climatic and a...)
1996(Desertification includes land degradation due to both cli...)
2002(This book provides an account of the development of Europ...)
1979John Thornes was a fellow of the Royal Geography Society, a member of the American Geophysical Union, British Hydrological Society, and British Geomorphological Research Group. He became President of the Institute of British Geographers in 1992.
Quotes from others about the person
"John Barrie Thornes was one of the most eminent and influential physical geographers of his generation". - Peter Haggett
John Barrie was married to Rosemary Ransford. They met when they were students at Queen Mary College. They married in 1962. Together they had two children, Chris and Clare.
