Bryan Lovell (1942 – 2024)
A pioneering geologist, inspirational leader, and passionate climate advocate
Known for his strong geoscience background, Bryan often said: “You can’t argue with a rock” (Image courtesy of Bryan Lovell)
Dr Julian Patrick Bryan Lovell OBE was born in Bath on 10 February 1942, grew up in the village of Swettenham, Cheshire, and passed away in Hertford on 20 September 2024. His father, Bernard, was a scientist who, in 1945, founded the Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, establishing the new science of radio astronomy. His mother, Joyce, was a teacher and writer.
After completing school in Macclesfield, Bryan gained a master’s in geology at the University of Oxford. His research project focused on the Bude Sandstones of Cornwall, supervised by Harold Reading. He moved to Harvard University for a PhD supervised by Raymond Siever and further developed his sedimentology skills and love of fieldwork. Returning to the UK in 1968, Bryan became a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.
BP and the Challenge Programme
In 1979, Bryan joined BP as their first Chief Sedimentologist. He later became Exploration Manager for Ireland and subsequently the Middle East. Bryan received an OBE in 1989 for “Services to British Commercial interests in Ireland and to Anglo-Irish relations”. His impact on an evolving BP increased during the 1990s when he became Head of Recruitment for BP Exploration. In that role, he devised the Challenge Programme, a three-year training scheme for new employees. It remains the core development programme for new petrotechnical graduate employees into BP, with other companies following suit – a testament to and long-lasting record of Bryan’s success. Bryan continued to lead and teach the Challenge Programme for BP globally until 2009; his passion for broadening the perspectives of geology and STEM graduates was strong.
Cambridge and research
In 1996, Bryan retired from full time work with BP, only to take up a senior research fellowship at Bullard Laboratories, University of Cambridge. Alongside Nicky White, Bryan suggested that the sedimentary record could be used to measure the pulse of a mantle plume. They proposed that the well-documented discrete episodes of sand deposition in the Paleogene of the North Sea Basin reflected hot pulses in the early Iceland plume.
His passion for broadening the perspectives of geology graduates was strong
Climate campaigner
Bryan was committed to addressing climate change and believed that carbon capture and storage was essential if we are to hit net zero by 2050. He lobbied and advised governments and businesses alike to research carbon capture and storage, and scale up the technology. Bryan worked with the Geological Society to promote climate discussions, notably leading the BP and ExxonMobil debate at Burlington House in 2003. In 2010, Cambridge University Press published Bryan’s Challenged by Carbon: The Oil Industry and Climate Change. During Bryan’s term as President of the Geological Society (2010-2012), the Society became the first such organisation to promulgate the geological case for concern about human-induced climate change.
Profound impact
Bryan is survived by wife Carol, three children, James, David, and Heather, and seven grandchildren. Bryan and Carol celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in June 2024.
The sadness of Bryan’s passing is balanced by the countless memories of the profound impact he had on many individuals and more broadly on geology. His deep sense of integrity, ethics, and values combined with a sharp wit, sense of fun, and strong geoscience background are things we will never forget. Bryan is a great loss to UK geology and beyond, but his achievements and impact will stand the test of time.
By Jon Gluyas, Mike Bowman, and Andrew Mackenzie (with input from Carol Lovell)
