HOGG Past Meeting Resources

The History of Geological Discovery in Polar Regions

16-17 July 2024

A conference with  archives visits, organised in partnership with the Geological Curators' Group in partnership with the British Antarctic Survey.

The meeting explored aspects of geological discoveries in both polar regions from the 19th and 20th centuries, with visits to view polar archives at the Sedgwick Museum and Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge.

‘Enormous Fossil Animal and Almost Perfect Skeleton’: Bicentenary Symposium

21 February 2024

A bicentenary symposium organised in partnership with Oxford University Museum of Natural History to mark the first scientific accounts of the Megalosaurus (by William Buckland) and Plesiosaurus (by W D Conybeare), read at the Geological Society meeting of 20 February 1824.

The Geological Society’s Map: understanding George Bellas Greenough and his 1820 geological map project

6 May 2021

A bicentenary online conference in association with the Department of Earth Sciences, University College London. A full-day conference comprised eleven presentations that was originally intended to be held in 2020 to mark the bicentennial of the publication of the early geological map of England and Wales, commonly known as ‘Greenough’s map’. The physical conference was postponed due to pandemic restrictions, and these were still in force a year late resulting in an online conference. It was, nevertheless, very successful.

The Genesis of Geology in York and Beyond

23–24 October 2019 

A two-day meeting organised in association with the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (Geology Section) and supported by York Museums Trust. This event celebrated HOGG 25th Anniversary. The programme comprised a one-day conference with six talks on the early development of geology and the activities of geologists in Yorkshire, followed by viewing tours of four key related geological artefacts from the collections at the Yorkshire Museum. The second day visited two significant field locations in North Yorkshire, the Kirkdale Cave and the magnetic ironstone works at Rosedale. 

Aspects of the History of Coal and its Mining 

22 November 2018 

A one-day meeting at the Geological Society, Burlington House, London. The meeting was focused on applied aspects of coal  geology; concerned less with the history of geological ideas or concepts and more with the things that geologists and other professionals do, or did, or didn’t do when working in the coal sector. 

HOGG Open Meeting

9 May 2018

A one-day meeting for HOGG members to share work of ongoing and completed but yet unpublished history of geology projects ranging across a wide range of topics from palaeontology to polar geology to geophysics, early plate tectonics, and more.

William Smith Conference

23–24 April 2015 

A two-day conference to mark the bicentenary of the publication of William Smith’s iconic 1815 map ‘ A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales’, held at the Geological Society, Burlington House, London. Full papers were published in a special issue of the journal Earth Sciences History, 2016, 35 (1). 

Geology and Medicine

1–2 November 2011

Medicine was essentially the birthplace for both natural science and geology and the first descriptions of rocks, minerals and fossils are often attributed to early physicians. One of the first pharmacies opened on the Arcadian Way in Ephesus around 400BC whereas the Egyptians prescribed mineral salts ground by mortar and pestle. Nicholas Steno (1638-1686) was an early example of a physician cum palaeontologist whereas James Parkinson (1755-1824) was a founding father of the Geological Society of London. This conference was dedicated to the memory of such personalities.

Geological Collectors and Collecting Conference 

4–5 April 2011

The conference covered the collecting of geological maps and books in addition to the collecting of fossils, rocks and minerals. Professor Richard Fortey of the Natural History Museum London opened the conference with a talk highlighting Natural History Museum collectors and collecting, including his own personal experiences as a fossil collector. The tours offered participants a rare opportunity to see behind-the-scenes in the palaeontology, rock and minerals departments at the Natural History Museum, and to view exhibits of rare books and maps in the Museum's library. The workshops provided hands-on advice on organising and conserving geological collections of all types and sizes – including the sort of small private collections many of us have amassed in our own homes and garages.

Geology in the History of Provincial Scientific Societies

9 April 2010

On-shore Hydrocarbons Use

20–22 April 2007