Martin Holdgate

Last updated

Sir Martin Wyatt Holdgate
Born (1931-01-14) 14 January 1931 (age 92)
Horsham, England
NationalityEnglish
Alma mater Queens' College, Cambridge University
Known forEnvironmental conservation work
AwardsW. S. Bruce Medal, Companion of the Order of the Bath, UNEP Silver Medal, UNEP 500 Award, Commander Order of the Golden Ark, Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Knight Bachelor, Honorary Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, Honorary member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Scientific career
FieldsBiology, Environmental Science
Institutions Manchester University, Durham University, Cambridge University, British Antarctic Survey, Nature Conservancy Council, Department of the Environment, International Union for Conservation of Nature

Sir Martin Wyatt Holdgate CB (born 14 January 1931) is an English biologist and environmental scientist.

Contents

Early life

Holdgate was born in Horsham, England on 14 January 1931, grew up in Blackpool, [1] and was educated at Arnold School. He then attended Cambridge University as an undergraduate at Queens' College, Cambridge from 1949, graduating in 1952 with degrees in zoology and botany [2] and, subsequently, a doctorate in insect physiology. [1]

Career

He taught at Manchester University, Durham University and Cambridge, as well as undertaking expeditions to Tristan da Cunha, south-west Chile and the Antarctic. [1] He was Chief Biologist to the British Antarctic Survey, then research director of the Nature Conservancy Council and, for eighteen years, Chief Scientist and head of research at the Department of the Environment. [1] Subsequently, he was Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. [1]

After his formal retirement, he was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and served as co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, and Secretary of the UN Secretary General's High-Level Board on Sustainable Development. [1]

Awards and honours

Holdgate has received numerous awards and honours for his work. [3]

Holdgate has been President of the Zoological Society of London and of the Freshwater Biological Association. [1] He is also a member and fellow of the Institute of Biology, making him a Chartered Biologist, and entitling him to use the designations C.Biol and F.I.Biol. In July 2014, he was appointed President of Friends of the Lake District. [1]

Publications

Holdgate edited the journal Antarctic Ecology (published for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, by the Academic Press) from the first edition in 1970. His publications include the following: [3]

As editor

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoological Society of London</span> English charity devoted to animal conservation

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Zoo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert May, Baron May of Oxford</span> Australian scientist, president of the Royal Society (1936–2020)

Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford, HonFAIB was an Australian scientist who was Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, President of the Royal Society, and a professor at the University of Sydney and Princeton University. He held joint professorships at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London. He was also a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 2001 until his retirement in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Houghton (physicist)</span> Welsh physicist (1931–2020)

Sir John Theodore Houghton was a Welsh atmospheric physicist who was the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore. He was the lead editor of first three IPCC reports. He was professor in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford, former Director General at the Met Office and founder of the Hadley Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Bateson</span> English biologist

Sir Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson, was an English biologist with interests in ethology and phenotypic plasticity. Bateson was a professor at the University of Cambridge and served as president of the Zoological Society of London from 2004 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partha Dasgupta</span> British economist (born 1942)

Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta is an Indian-British economist who is Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.

Sir John Hartley Lawton is a British ecologist, RSPB Vice President, President of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, President of The Institution of Environmental Sciences, Chairman of York Museums Trust and President of the York Ornithological Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold School</span> Independent school public school in Blackpool, Lancashire, England

Arnold School was an independent school in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, established on the Fylde coast in 1896 during the Victorian expansion of public boarding schools in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Swann</span> British biologist (1920–1990)

Michael Meredith Swann, Baron Swann, was a British molecular and cell biologist. He was appointed chairman of the BBC, awarded a knighthood and subsequently a life peerage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Scottish Geographical Society</span> Educational charity to advance the study of geography

The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around them, and provide a source of reliable and impartial geographical information.

Dr Dawn W. Frith is an English born Australian citizen and ornithologist. She is now a self-employed private, independent, zoological researcher, consultant, natural history author, and publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Wordie</span> Scottish polar explorer and geologist

Sir James Mann WordieCBE FRS FRSGS LLD was a Scottish polar explorer and geologist. Friends knew him as Jock Wordie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mason (meteorologist)</span> British meteorologist

Sir Basil John Mason was an expert on cloud physics and former Director-General of the Meteorological Office from 1965 to 1983 and Chancellor of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) from 1994 to 1996.

Andrew Shaw Goudie is a geographer at the University of Oxford specialising in desert geomorphology, dust storms, weathering, and climatic change in the tropics. He is also known for his teaching and best-selling textbooks on human impacts on the environment. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of forty-one books and more than two hundred papers published in learned journals. He combines research and some teaching with administrative roles.

Gordon McGregor Reid PPFLS was Director General and Chief Executive of the North of England Zoological Society, popularly known as Chester Zoo. He stepped down in 2010. The North of England Zoological Society is an independent charity for conservation, education and science. It is also one of the leading wildlife attractions in the UK, receiving well over one million paying guests each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline McGlade</span> British-born Canadian marine biologist and environmental informatics professor

Jacqueline Myriam McGlade is a British-born Canadian marine biologist and environmental informatics professor. Her research concerns the spatial and nonlinear dynamics of ecosystems, climate change and scenario development. She is currently professor of resilience and sustainable development at the University College London Institute for Global Prosperity and Faculty of Engineering, UK, and professor at Strathmore University in the Institute for Public Policy and Governance, Kenya.

Winston Frank Ponder is a malacologist born and educated in New Zealand who has named and described many marine and freshwater animals, especially micromolluscs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Swingland</span>

Ian Richard Swingland is a British conservationist, convicted in 2017 of conspiring to commit fraud by false representation. He founded DICE at the University of Kent in 1989, recognised as one of the first interdisciplinary research and postgraduate training institutes in the world concentrating on biodiversity, communities and sustainable development. While at DICE he served as director and was elected to the first chair in Conservation Biology in the United Kingdom.

David Barford is a British medical researcher and structural biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge, UK.

John Patrick Croxall is a British biologist, and was Head of Conservation Biology at the British Antarctic Survey. He is Chair of Global Seabird Programme, of BirdLife International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Bonner</span> British biologist

William Nigel Bonner was a British zoologist, Antarctic marine mammal specialist, author and ecologist. The topics of his books and scientific publications included marine animals, reindeer and the ecology of the Antarctic. He headed the Life Sciences Division of the British Antarctic Survey from 1974 to 1986, and served as deputy director from 1986 to 1988. Bonner received the Polar Medal in 1987, in recognition of his work in Antarctica.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sir Martin Holdgate – New President of Friends of the Lake District". Friends of the Lake District. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  2. Eminent Alumni Archived 16 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine , Queens's College, Cambridge, accessed 16 February 2010
  3. 1 2 Sir Martin Holdgate, CB Archived 20 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine , Debretts 'People of Today', accessed 16 February 2010