Edgeworth David

Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David, known as Edgeworth David, was a Welsh-Australian geologist born January 28, 1858, in St Fagans, near Cardiff, Wales, who died August 28, 1934, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and who discovered the major Hunter Valley coalfield in New South Wales, led the first expedition to reach the south magnetic pole on January 16, 1909, made the first ascent of Mount Erebus, and conducted field studies of glaciation on the Kosciuszko plateau and of Precambrian glacial deposits. He served as professor of geology at the University of Sydney from 1891 to 1924, and during the First World War was appointed a major in the Australian Mining Corps at age fifty seven in October 1915, was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and served until 1919. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, won the Clarke Medal in 1917 and the Patron Medal in 1926, and received the Wollaston Medal in 1915.