Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1988, Qupperneq 37

SUMMARY
Professor G.P.L. Walker
awarded an honorary doctorate
at the University of Iceland.
Some notes on the geological
investigation of Iceland
by
Páll Imsland
Nordic Volcanological Institute
University of Iceland
IS-101 REYKJAVIK
Iceland
On October 22, 1988, the Science De-
partment of the University of Iceland
awarded an honorary doctorate to George
P.L. Walker, professor of volcanology at
the University of Hawaii. This article dis-
cusses in retrospect his works on Icelandic
geology and volcanology.
Professor Walker came to Iceland each
summer from 1954-1965 to study the geo-
logy of the volcanic lava pile in Eastern
Iceland. He brought with him a number of
students from the Imperial College of
Science and Technology at the University
of London, where he was a lecturer and a
reader at the time. He has made an out-
standing contribution to research on the
geology of Iceland, as is evidenced by the
large number of papers and theses that he
and his students have written on the sub-
ject, especially on the volcanic geology of
Eastern Iceland.
During the Surtsey eruption, 1963-1967,
Walker’s interests were turned towards di-
rect volcanic studies, both because of that
event and the understanding he had
gained from his research on volcanic geo-
logy. Since then he has been deeply in-
volved in studies of active volcanism and
related phenomena. He has held posts in
England, New Zealand and Hawaii and
obtained field data and experience all
over the world. He has written a total of
more than 100 scientific papers in critically
reviewed journals and related publications
and given lectures at multinational confer-
ences in numerous countries. He is one of
the most highly reputed volcanoiogists of
today.
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