John Gunner

John Gunner studied geology at the University of Oxford from 1964 to 1967 where he was a student of Barry Butler’s. During his summer vacations he joined expeditions to Iceland and East Greenland studying glaciers and ancient rock formations. For the next four years he was a postgraduate student in the USA doing research on rocks in central Antarctica where he spent three summer field seasons. He was awarded a PhD in geology from Ohio State University in 1971.

On return to the UK he took a postgraduate course in teaching followed by lecturing and teaching jobs in Cambridge and at Brathay Field Studies Centre, Cumbria. Wherever possible his summers were spent leading youth expeditions to the Arctic -a part of the world where the air is clear, the population is minimal and the rocks are clean of soil and vegetation.

Between 1987 and retirement in 2015 he was an associate lecturer in with the Open University teaching a variety of geology courses. In that time he also taught geology courses for adults with Liverpool, Newcastle and Lancaster Universities. Since his undergraduate days he has been an enthusiast for using field work to explain how the Earth works.

He lives in South Cumbria.