Philippa Black
Philippa Margaret Black is a New Zealand academic specialising in geology, specifically mineralogy and metamorphic petrology. She studied at the University of Auckland and earned a MSc and PhD in geology. Her PhD focused on the Tokatea Reef in the hills behind Coromandel township. She later got an MA in History. She was appointed a professor at the University of Auckland in 1986 and headed the department for 15 years.
Between 1993 and 1997, Black was president of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the first woman to hold the role. In the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to science.
In 2013, after her retirement, she was elected Companion to the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.
