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Dick Willett

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Richard Wright Willett (31 October 1912 – 1974) was a New Zealand geologist. He rose to be Director of the New Zealand Geological Survey from 1956 to 1967, where his major work was the instigation of a 1:250,000 scale national geological map known as the 'Four Mile project'.

As a student at University of Otago he became active in the New Zealand Labour Party during the 1935 election.[1]

Sir Ernest Marsden lobbied for Willet to become the first 'Commonwealth geological liaison officer' which involved Willet and his family moving to London for the period 1951–1954.[1]

In 1958, Willet and two others published a detailed geological description on New Zealand's only uranium-rush, that of Hawks Crag in the Buller Gorge.[1]

In 1965, Willett was awarded an honorary DSc from the University of Otago.[2]

Willett was President of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1970–1974, preceded by John Miles and followed by Sir Malcolm McRae Burns.[3]

Selected works

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Willett, Keith (2017). "Browse journals by subject". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 47 (2): 187–192. doi:10.1080/03036758.2017.1305976.
  2. ^ "Emeritus Professors" (PDF). Otago.ac.nz. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Royal Society Te Aparangi – Presidents". Royalsociety.org.nz. Retrieved 5 July 2017.