Stephen Robert Nockolds, FRS (10 May 1909-7 Feb 1990) was a geochemist, petrologist and winner of the Murchison Medal

Murchison Medal

An award established by Roderick Murchison, who died in 1871. One of the closing public acts of Murchison’s life was the founding of a chair of geology and mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh. Under his will there was established the Murchison Medal and geological fund to be awarded annually...

 of the Geological Society of London

Geological Society of London

The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...

.

Robert Nockolds was born at St Columb Major

St Columb Major

St Columb Major is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as St Columb, it is situated approximately seven miles southwest of Wadebridge and six miles east of Newquay...

, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, the son of Dr Stephen Nockolds, a surgeon of Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, and his wife Hilda Tomlinson. He was educated at Ascham St Vincent's School, Eastbourne

Eastbourne

Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

 and at Felsted School

Felsted School

Felsted School, an English co-educational day and boarding independent school, situated in Felsted, Essex. It is in the British Public School tradition, and was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich who, as Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, acquired...

 where his interest in rocks already manifested itself. He then went to Manchester University

Victoria University of Manchester

The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...

 and then took a PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. He became a Fellow of Trinity College, and lectured in petrology at Cambridge. In 1957 he became Reader in Geochemistry at Cambridge, and Emeritus Reader. In 1959 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was also an Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of India

Geological Society of India

The Geological Society of India is based in Bangalore, India. Its flagship product is the Journal of the Geological Society of India .-Establishment:...

. In 1972 he retired from Cambridge and was awarded the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society. He published a leading work on petrology and a large number of papers in various journals as shown below.

In 1932 he married Hilda Jackson (1909–1976) and subsequently after she died in 1976 he married Patricia Horsley. He was known to his friends as Nocky or Bob and whilst he didn't have children of his own he was affectionately embraced by Patricia's large family. In his retirement he devoted himself to his immaculate garden.

Works

• Nockolds, S. R. Petrology for Students (1978) ISBN 100521291844 ISBN 139780521291842
• Nockolds, S. R. 1933 Some theoretical aspects of Contamination in Acid Magmas. Journ. Geol. xii, p. 563.
• Nockolds,, S. R. 1934. The production of normal Rock Types by Contamination and their bearing on Petrogenesis. Geol. Mag. lxxi, p. 31.
• Nockolds,, S. R. 1934. The contaminated tonalites of Loch Awe, Argyll. Q.J.G.S. xc, p. 302.
• Nockolds,, S. R. 1935. Contributions to the Petrology of Barnavave, Carlingford, I.F.S. 1, The Junction Hybrids. Geol. Mag. lxxii, p. 289.
• Nockolds, S. R. 1940, Petrology of rocks from Queen Mary Land. Australasian Antarctic Exped. 1911-14. Sci. Repts. ser. A, 4, Geol. pt. 2, 15-86.
• Nockolds, S. R. 1941. The Garabal Hill-Glen Fyne igneous complex. Q. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 96, 451–511.
• Nockolds, S. R. & Mitchell, R. L. 1946. The geochemistry of some Caledonian plutonic rocks: a study in the relationship between the major and trace elements of igneous rocks and their minerals. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb., 61, 533–575.
• Tilley C E & Nockolds S R [Edited by] Part II Proceedings of Section a : Problems of Geochemistry U.K. 1950. Paper Covers . International Geological Congress. Report of the Eighteenth Session Great Britain 1948.
• Nockolds, S. R. & Allen, R. 1953. The geochemistry of some igneous rock series. Geochim & Cosmochim Acta, 4, 105–42.
• Nockolds, S. R. & Allen, R. 1954. The geochemistry of some igneous rock series ––II. Geochim & Cosmochim Acta, 5, 245–85.
• Nockolds, S. R. & Allen, R. 1956. The geochemistry of some igneous rock series––III. Geochim & Cosmochim Acta, 9, 34–77.
• Hutton, C. O. & Nockolds, S. R. 1978. The petrology of Nevis, Leeward Islands, West Indies. Institute of Geological Sciences, Overseas Geology and Mineral Resources 52:1-31.