Sydney Ewart Hollingworth

Sydney Ewart Hollingworth (7 November 1899 – 23 June 1966) was a British geologist and academic who specialized in the Pleistocene geology of northwest England, and was professor of geology at University College London, 1946–66. The Hollingworth Cliffs in Antarctica and the mineral "Hollingworthite" are named after him.

Early life and education

He was born in Flore, Northamptonshire, the son of Alice Masters Hollingworth and Charles Hollingworth, a foreman in the Army Ordnance Department. He was educated at Northampton School, and then joined the Army at the end of the First World War. He was wounded in active service.

After the end of the war, he entered Clare College, Cambridge, where he was influenced by John Edward Marr and Alfred Harker. Hollingworth took first-class honours in both parts of the natural sciences tripos and in 1921 was awarded the Harkness scholarship. In 1921, he graduated from Cambridge and 10 years later earned a DSc from the University College London.

In 1934, the BGS transferred Hollingworth to the West Midlands section and he began years of fieldwork in Cambridgeshire. When the Second World War began in 1939, Hollingworth joined a team tasked with updating and increasing geological knowledge of the Jurassic ironstones, particularly those in Northamptonshire such as Northampton Sand Formation. These were particularly vital at that time as they served as the UK's chief domestic source of iron ore, which played a crucial part in steel production required by the war effort. The British Antarctic Survey of 1968–71 named the Hollingworth Cliffs in Antarctica after named for him.