Cecil Edgar Tilley facts for kids

Cecil Edgar Tilley was an important Australian-British scientist. He was a petrologist and geologist. This means he studied rocks and how they formed. He was born in Australia in 1894. Later, he moved to the UK. He made many discoveries about minerals.

A Life of Rocks and Minerals

Cecil Tilley was born in Unley, Adelaide, Australia. He was the youngest of his family. His father was a civil engineer from London.

He went to Adelaide High School. Then he studied chemistry and geology at the University of Adelaide. He also studied at the University of Sydney. He finished his studies in 1915.

During the First World War, he worked as a chemist. This was in South Queensferry, Scotland. He helped with explosives. After the war, he returned to Australia.

In 1919, Cecil won a special scholarship. This allowed him to study at the University of Cambridge in England. He focused on petrology. He earned his PhD in 1922.

He started working at Cambridge University in 1923. First, he was a demonstrator. Then he became a lecturer in petrology in 1929. In 1931, he became the first Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology. This was a very important job.

Most of his life was spent in England. But he visited Australia often.

Discovering New Minerals

In 1929, Cecil Tilley made an exciting discovery. He was studying a volcanic plug in Northern Ireland. A volcanic plug is like a hardened lava core inside an old volcano.

There, he found and named two new minerals. He called them larnite and scawtite. This was a big achievement in the world of geology.

Awards and Recognition

Cecil Tilley was highly respected for his work. In 1938, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. This is a very prestigious science group. He was also their Vice President for a time.

In 1967, he won the Royal Medal from the Royal Society. This is one of the highest awards for scientific achievement.

He was also the President of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain. This was from 1948 to 1951. He was also President of the Geological Society in 1949 and 1950. In 1957, he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Cecil Tilley passed away in Cambridge, England, in 1973. He was 78 years old.

Family Life

In 1928, Cecil Tilley married Irene Doris Marshall. They were married in London. They had one daughter together.