Simon Nathan wins award to write James Hector biography
Posted 26 September 2008 // Helen Rickerby
James Hector in his younger days
Congratulations to Simon Nathan, geologist, former Theme Editor for Te Ara (Earth, Sea and Sky and The Bush), writer of our upcoming entry on the West Coast, and one of our regular bloggers.
Simon has just been announced as the recipient of the inaugural Copyright Licensing Ltd/New Zealand Society of Authors Stout Grant toward a biography of James Hector. Simon introduced us to über-influential and wide-ranging James Hector back in March, in his blog post to mark Hector Day.
Explorer, geologist and natural scientist James Hector founded several of the most important scientific institutions in New Zealand: the Colonial Museum (now Te Papa), the New Zealand Institute (now the Royal Society of New Zealand) and the Geological Survey (now GNS Science). Mountains, dolphins and beaked whales have been named after him.
It’s surprising a biography hasn’t yet been written about someone who has been so significant in New Zealand’s history (I’ve heard rumours this is because his handwriting was so appalling that no-one can decipher it), but Simon is now going to remedy this. He was been well-prepared by writing a biography of fellow-geologist Harold Wellman. All the very best for this mammoth task!
