Cotton, Leo Arthur
Born: 11 November 1883, Nymagee, NSW
Died: 12 July 1963, Newport, NSW
Family: Father, Francis Cotton, engineer and inventor; Mother, ?
Married:
1. 9 February 1910, Hornsby, Florence Edith Channon (dec. 1930) (3 sons, 2 daughters)
2. 9 November 1946, Artarmon, Lilian Read (dec. 1980)
Education:
Fort Street Model Public School, Sydney
University of Sydney (Arts, evening student)
1904 and 1905 First Class Honours in Mathematics
1905 Entered Faculty of Science
1906 BA First Class Honours in Mathematics
1906 1st Year Science, Slade Prize for Practical Physics, Smith Prize for Physics, Second Class Honours in Chemistry
1907 Deas-Thomson Scholarships for Physics and Geology; Professor Davids Prize for Geology, First Class Honours in Chemistry
1908 BSc First Class Honours in Geology-Mineralogy; Second Class Honours in Palaeontology; Professor Davids Prize for Geology; John Coutts Scholarship for Distinction in Science
1916 MA (Mathematics)
1920 DSc with University Medal
Career:
1902 Draughtsman, Department of Lands
December 1907 to March 1908 Member, Shackleton Antarctic Expedition (voyage only)
1908 Demonstrator in charge of Laboratory Classes during Professor Davids absence in Antarctica
1909, 1910 Linnean Society of New South Wales Macleay Research Fellow in Geology
1911 to 1920 Lecturer and demonstrator, Geology
1920 Visited Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands; Delegate of the University to the Pan-Pacific Scientific Conference at Honolulu
1920 to 1924 Assistant Professor of Geology (with periods as Acting Professor)
1922 Visited south island of New Zealand
1922 to 1923 Joint Secretary, Geological Section, Royal Society of New South Wales
1923 Member, Pan-Pacific Committee, Australian National Research Council; Secretary, Section for Geology, Second Pan-Pacific Congress, Sydney meeting
1923 and 1924 Vice-President Geology Section, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Wellington NZ and Adelaide
1925 Edgeworth David Professor of Geology, University of Sydney
WWII Chairman, Advisory Committee on Scientific Manpower (General)
1944 to 1946 Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney
1948 Retired
Also:
Member, Linnean Society of New South Wales
Fellow, Geological Societies of London and America
Member of Council, Royal Society of New South Wales
Member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
Associate Member, Australian National Research Council
Joint Secretary, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science Committee for the Study of Earth Movements by Horizontal Pendulums
Secretary, Seismological Committee, Australian National Research Council
Member, Editorial Sub-Committee, Australian National Research Council
Member, Committee, Australian National Research Council for Geodesy and Geophysics
Department of Geology, University of New England, named after him
Publications:
With M.D. Garretty, Stereographic projection, North Broken Hill Ltd., Broken Hill, NSW, 1945
Articles in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society and other journals: see University of Sydney Archives Biography File No. 376 for a short list of some of these)