John R. L. Allen


John Robert Lawrence Allen, is a British geologist/archeologist, and professor emeritus at Reading University.
John Allen’s career is, indeed, a most remarkable one. He took a 1st class degree in Geology at the University of Sheffield in 1955 and then proceeded to research for a PhD. However, notwithstanding declining to submit his thesis for examination, his outstanding qualities were recognised by the Professor of Geology at Reading University, another, but unrelated Professor Percival Allen, with the award of the Martin Lees Research Fellowship in 1958. So began a career at the University of Reading which has continued to this day: appointment as lecturer in Geology in 1961 was followed by promotion to Reader in 1967 and to a Personal Professorship of Geology in 1972 at the age of 39. In 1988 he was appointed Director of the newly formed Postgraduate Research Institute in Sedimentology. The flagship MSc trained many outstanding students, among whom are leading figures of the world’s oil industry. Emeritus Professor since 2001, John is now in his sixth decade of teaching and researching.

Honours

Professor Allen has been awarded with:
The Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1980.
The Twenhofel Medal of the Society for Sedimentary Geology SEPM, in 1987.
The G. K. Warren Prize of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1990.
The Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1996.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 1979.
and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 21 November 1991.

Selected works