BLOOD, SAND, AND ICE: MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY GEOMORPHOLOGIST CUCHLAINE A.M. KING

This paper considers the life and career of one of the first, and one of the most accomplished, women geomorphologists of the twentieth century, Cuchlaine A.M. King. Data sources analyzed for this synthesis include King’s published work, some of her unpublished written materials, and oral history interviews with King and others.

Born in 1922 in England, King’s father was eminent University of Cambridge geology professor and decorated military geologist W.B.R. King. Choosing a career path in consultation with her father, King completed her undergraduate degree at Cambridge in 1943, then entered the Women’s Royal Naval Service. After the war, she returned to Cambridge for graduate study and in 1949 completed a dissertation that extended coastal investigations undertaken for the D-Day landings.

King spent most of her academic career as a professor at the University of Nottingham, where she soon developed her research interest in glacial geomorphology. As one of very few women in geomorphology in the middle of the twentieth century, she placed a high value on field work from both a scientific and an aesthetic perspective, and broke through barriers to women conducting field research in remote areas of the Arctic. King also felt a strong responsibility to communicate to others through publications what she had learned from her research, and the quality, quantity, breadth, and depth of her publications remain impressive. Her strong position on the importance of field work in geomorphology regardless of one’s gender, and her strong and visible publication record, stand in sharp contrast to her very reserved personal nature. This research identifies as three important themes in King’s career the influence of her father, the impact of World War II, and the dichotomy of being an especially reserved person yet challenging the gender barrier to field work and becoming a leader in her discipline.