Michael Welland Explained

Michael Welland (1946 – October 2017) was a British petroleum geologist and expert on sand (an arenophile).^[1] His book Sand: a journey through science and the imagination,^[2] won the 2010 John Burroughs Medal.^{[3] [4] [5]} Welland was a featured commentator in the documentary film "Sand Wars" (2013).

Welland was born in 1946, son of Dennis Welland, Professor of American Literature and later Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Selwyn College, Cambridge. His 1972 PhD thesis deals with the stratigraphy and structural geology of part of the eastern Othris Mountains.^[6] His PhD supervisor was Alan Gilbert Smith.

When Welland appeared in 2010 on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Museum of Curiosity, his proposed donation to the imaginary museum was singing sand dunes.

Selected publications

• The Desert: lands of lost borders (2015, Reaktion Books:)
• Sand: a journey through science and the imagination (2009, Oxford UP: ; published in United States as Sand: the never-ending story)

External links

• Web site: Through the Sandglass . Welland's personal website, continued by his child
• Web site: Interview with Michael Welland, author of "Sand" . Education: Geology . about.com . 29 October 2012.
• Book: Sand: A journey through science and the imagination . . Includes "Look inside" facility to view preface, selected pages and images

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fortey . Richard . 2017 . Michael Welland 1946–2017 . London . .
2. [Oxford University Press]
3. Web site: Sand and the Imagination. 28 July 2010. RadioNational: The Book Show. ABC (Australia). 28 October 2012.
4. Robinson. Andrew. 13 August 2009. The world in a grain of sand (book review). Nature. 460. 798–799. 10.1038/460798a. free.
5. Web site: John Burroughs Medal Award List . . 28 October 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023556/http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/medal_award_list.html . 4 March 2016 .
6. Book: Welland, M.. 1972. The stratigraphy and structure of part of the E. Othris Mountains. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, England.