Robert Stoneley
Date of birth
1929
Date of death
15 Sep 2008
Place of birth
Biography
Emeritus Professor of Petroleum Geology Bob Stoneley died on 15 September. He was born in 1929, the son of Dr Robert Stoneley, the discoverer of the eponymous Stoneley waves. Bob graduated in geology from Cambridge in 1951 and then spent the next 18 months with the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, carrying out geological expeditions from Hope Bay in Antarctica. As described by Sir Vivian Fuchs in his book âOf Ice and Menâ Bobâs experiences were truly epic. The arrival of his party caused an international incident. The Argentine military were already in residence and fired machine guns over his partyâs heads as they carried stores ashore, before marching them back to the John Biscoe at gun point. The Royal Navy had to send a gun boat to resolve the misunderstanding. His Antarctic adventures continued. On one occasion Bob and his dog team fell down a crevasse. Bob got out alone. On his return he was awarded the Polar Silver Medal, for âextreme human endeavour against appalling weather and conditions that exist in the Arctic and Antarctic.â He married palaeobotanist Hilda Cox and some years later obtained his PhD from Cambridge.
Bob spent the next 26 years with BP exploring for petroleum in Tanganyika, Angola, New Zealand, Canada, Alaska, Ecuador and Iran. His adventures included paddling down the Amazon in a dug out canoe and dodging angry African rhinos and Alaskan grizzlies. During these years Bob published a series of papers on the origins of the mountain chains that he visited. During his time in Alaska, Bob led the team responsible for the discovery, early appraisal drilling and evaluation of Prudhoe Bay oilfield. His last assignment for BP was as Chief Geologist of the Oil Services Company of Iran, with responsibility for a drilling programme of 25 rigs.
In 1979 Bob left BP to take up the Chair of Petroleum Geology at Imperial College. This was a challenging post. Acting on the recommendation of government advisors the Oil Technology Group of the Geology Department had just been bisected. Petroleum engineering had been moved into the Department of Mining and received abundant funding. Petroleum geology received nothing. Though there was no shortage of students there were few staff and their stay brief as North Sea salaries beckoned. Nonetheless Bob quickly turned the group round, securing additional funding for staff posts and revitalising the MSc Petroleum Geology Course. Bob played a key role in the establishment of JAPEC, the Joint Association for Petroleum Exploration Courses. This combined the forces of IC, the Petroleum Exploration Society of GB and the Geological Society of London. JAPEC brought valuable funds into the department before CPD had become part of the IC mission. Bob was very much the old style university professor. His door was always open for any student to enter for pastoral or geological succour. Generations of students will have fond memories of the traditional Dorset field trip. They will recall Professor Stoneley standing on a rocky promontory overlooking the sea, leaning into the horizontal rain while shouting into the wind expounding the geological wonders of Dorset. Bob looked like an Old Testament prophet, while the students, like the children of Israel, stood leaning against the gale, scribbling his words down into their sodden notebooks. The second recollection will be of the evenings, with the party back at the hotel warm, dry, fed and watered. After dinner students gathered for the traditional âprayer meetingâ, now with dry note books, while Bob, behind a map strewn table, with a pint of beer, and a small cigar, continued to profess his subject in a more congenial setting. During these years Bob published seminal contributions to the understanding of the complex generation and migration of petroleum in the Wessex basin using little more than a hammer, pencil, paper and the little grey cells. Overall, however, his published out put was modest. He retained the old academic view that it was rather vulgar to publish too much too often.
Bob was offered the Headship of the Department of Geology on Sir John Knillâs translation to NERC, and also the Deanship of the Royal School of Mines. He declined both honours. Bob served on the Council of the Geological Society of London. He received its Coke Medal and the Petroleum Group Silver medal for excellence in petroleum geology. He was an Honorary Member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of GB.
Between 1993-8 he was General Secretary of the Geologistsâ Association. In 2002 he was awarded the GAâs Halstead Medal. He was awarded the MacKay Hammer by the Geological Society of New Zealand.
Bobâs name lives on in Antarctica; Stoneley Point sits at the entrance to Whisky Bay on N. James Ross Island. In addition the Stoneley Medal is awarded to participants in the American Association of Petroleum Geologistsâ annual student competition based on Imperial Collegeâs Barrel Award.
Bob was one of the last old style heroic field geologists, the sort of men capable of killing a hedgehog with their bare bottom. He was modest, courteous, convivial and kind. His humour was gentle and he spoke ill of no-one. Bob was a true English gentleman.
accessed 30/10/2019 from: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/50434/professor-robert-stoneley-emeritus-professor-petroleum/
Bob spent the next 26 years with BP exploring for petroleum in Tanganyika, Angola, New Zealand, Canada, Alaska, Ecuador and Iran. His adventures included paddling down the Amazon in a dug out canoe and dodging angry African rhinos and Alaskan grizzlies. During these years Bob published a series of papers on the origins of the mountain chains that he visited. During his time in Alaska, Bob led the team responsible for the discovery, early appraisal drilling and evaluation of Prudhoe Bay oilfield. His last assignment for BP was as Chief Geologist of the Oil Services Company of Iran, with responsibility for a drilling programme of 25 rigs.
In 1979 Bob left BP to take up the Chair of Petroleum Geology at Imperial College. This was a challenging post. Acting on the recommendation of government advisors the Oil Technology Group of the Geology Department had just been bisected. Petroleum engineering had been moved into the Department of Mining and received abundant funding. Petroleum geology received nothing. Though there was no shortage of students there were few staff and their stay brief as North Sea salaries beckoned. Nonetheless Bob quickly turned the group round, securing additional funding for staff posts and revitalising the MSc Petroleum Geology Course. Bob played a key role in the establishment of JAPEC, the Joint Association for Petroleum Exploration Courses. This combined the forces of IC, the Petroleum Exploration Society of GB and the Geological Society of London. JAPEC brought valuable funds into the department before CPD had become part of the IC mission. Bob was very much the old style university professor. His door was always open for any student to enter for pastoral or geological succour. Generations of students will have fond memories of the traditional Dorset field trip. They will recall Professor Stoneley standing on a rocky promontory overlooking the sea, leaning into the horizontal rain while shouting into the wind expounding the geological wonders of Dorset. Bob looked like an Old Testament prophet, while the students, like the children of Israel, stood leaning against the gale, scribbling his words down into their sodden notebooks. The second recollection will be of the evenings, with the party back at the hotel warm, dry, fed and watered. After dinner students gathered for the traditional âprayer meetingâ, now with dry note books, while Bob, behind a map strewn table, with a pint of beer, and a small cigar, continued to profess his subject in a more congenial setting. During these years Bob published seminal contributions to the understanding of the complex generation and migration of petroleum in the Wessex basin using little more than a hammer, pencil, paper and the little grey cells. Overall, however, his published out put was modest. He retained the old academic view that it was rather vulgar to publish too much too often.
Bob was offered the Headship of the Department of Geology on Sir John Knillâs translation to NERC, and also the Deanship of the Royal School of Mines. He declined both honours. Bob served on the Council of the Geological Society of London. He received its Coke Medal and the Petroleum Group Silver medal for excellence in petroleum geology. He was an Honorary Member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of GB.
Between 1993-8 he was General Secretary of the Geologistsâ Association. In 2002 he was awarded the GAâs Halstead Medal. He was awarded the MacKay Hammer by the Geological Society of New Zealand.
Bobâs name lives on in Antarctica; Stoneley Point sits at the entrance to Whisky Bay on N. James Ross Island. In addition the Stoneley Medal is awarded to participants in the American Association of Petroleum Geologistsâ annual student competition based on Imperial Collegeâs Barrel Award.
Bob was one of the last old style heroic field geologists, the sort of men capable of killing a hedgehog with their bare bottom. He was modest, courteous, convivial and kind. His humour was gentle and he spoke ill of no-one. Bob was a true English gentleman.
accessed 30/10/2019 from: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/50434/professor-robert-stoneley-emeritus-professor-petroleum/