{{Short description|British palaeontologist (1923–1993)}} '''Derek Victor Ager''' (21 April 1923 – 8 February 1993)<ref name="elsevier">{{Cite journal |last=Pugh |first=Mary |date=January 1993 |title=Obituary notices: Derek Victor Ager |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S001678780880051X |journal=Proceedings of the Geologists' Association |language=en |volume=104 |issue=4 |pages=313–315 |doi=10.1016/S0016-7878(08)80051-X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> was a British geologist and palaeontologist, student of the Jurassic system and a brachiopodologist, largely known as the one who reintroduced the idea of catastrophism into scientific circulation.<ref name="elsevier2">{{Cite journal |last=Walley |first=C.D. |last2=Manceñido |first2=M.O. |date=January 1993 |title=Dedication |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/003101829390026F |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |language=en |volume=100 |issue=1-2 |pages=5–6 |doi=10.1016/0031-0182(93)90026-F|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Biographic data == Ager grew up in London, and attended the John Lyon school in Harrow on the Hill. From 1941 to 1946, he served with the Royal Tank Regiment. He is reported to have found his first fossil while excavating a trench in Crag Group sediments in Suffolk. After the end of World War II, Ager travelled to India, where he stayed for a year, during which time he was an instructor in a regimental school in the foothills of the Himalaya.<ref name="elsevier"/>
After he returned to England, Ager obtained a BSc in geology from Chelsea Polytechnic in 1951. He then moved to Imperial College London, where he obtained his PhD in 1954 and a DSc degree in 1968.<ref name="elsevier"/> His doctoral student was {{interlanguage link|Paul Copper|pl}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Caldwell |first=W. G. E. |date=2008-02-01 |title=Tribute |url=http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/e07-911 |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |language=en |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=v–ix |doi=10.1139/e07-911 |issn=0008-4077|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1969, Ager was appointed to a chair in geology and the position of head of department at University College, Swansea, a position he held until 1985.
==Service and awards== Ager was an active member of both the Geologists' Association, and of the South Wales group of the Geologists' association. He was president of the Geologists' Association from 1974 to 1976,<ref name=Wyley>{{cite book |last1=Leake |first1=Bernard |last2=Bishop |first2=Arthur|last3=Howarth |first3=Richard|date=2013 |title=The Wyley History of the Geologists' Association in the 50 years 1958 to 2008 |url=https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/newgawpsite/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GA-History-book.pdf|location= |publisher=The Geologists' Association |page=121 |isbn=978-0900717-71-0}}</ref> and chair of the South Wales group from 1978 to 1980. He was awarded the Murchison Fund of the Geological Society of London in 1960 and the Foulerton Award of the Geologists' Association in 1969.<ref name=Wyley/><ref name=GA>{{cite book|title=Geologists’ Association, South Wales Group. A geological perspective 1960-1992|page=8|first=Alun|last=Thomas|ISBN= 0 7200 0547 7|year=2003|url=http://swga.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Geological_perspective_1960_1992AJT.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://geologistsassociation.org.uk/prizes_and_medals/|title=GA Prizes and Medals|website=Geologists' Association|access-date=5 March 2026}}</ref> In 1979, he received the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society,<ref name="elsevier"/> followed by an Honorary DSc from the Sorbonne in 1981.<ref name=GA/>
In 1993, Ager was to be an honorary president of the First European Palaeontological Congress in Lyon, but did not live to see it; the congress was dedicated to his memory.<ref>Gayet, Mireille (1995) ''Avant-propos'', [In:] Mireille Gayet, Bernard Courtinat (ed.), ''First European Palaeontological Congress, Lyon, July 7–9, 1993'' [Geobios, Mémoire spécial 18], Lyon. [p. 7]</ref>
== Significance in the history of science ==
=== Scientific achievements === Ager was the author of numerous works on brachiopod systematics<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ager |first=Derek Victor |date=1957 |title=The true Rhynchonella |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/172877 |journal=Palaeontology |volume=1 |pages=1–15}}</ref><ref name="tandfonline">{{Cite journal |last=Ager |first=D. V. |date=1967-12-31 |title=A Monograph of the British Liassic Rhynchonellidæ |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25761900.2022.12131706 |journal=Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society |language=en |volume=121 |issue=519 |pages=137–169 |doi=10.1080/25761900.2022.12131706 |issn=0269-3445|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and introduced several taxa within the order Rhynchonellida, for example the family Norellidae Ager, 1959 (originally as a subfamily) and the genus ''Austrirhynchia'' Ager, 1959.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ager |first=D. V. |date=1959 |title=The Classification of the Mesozoic Rhynchonelloidea |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1300761 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=324–332 |issn=0022-3360}}</ref> He was the author of the first English-language<ref name="elsevier2"/> textbook on palaeoecology.<ref name="Principles">{{Cite book |last=Ager |first=Derek V. |title=Principles of Paleoecology: An Introduction to the study of how and where animals and plants lived in the past |date=1963 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York–San Francisco–Toronto–London |pages=371 |lccn=62-21239}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: Principles of Paleoecology by Derek V. Ager|first=Ernest J.|last=Roscoe|journal= The American Midland Naturalist|volume=71|year=1964|pages=251–253|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2422704}}</ref> He also worked on general issues of the Earth sciences, such as the relationship between uniformitarianism and catastrophism,<ref name="The Nature">{{Cite book |last=Ager |first=Derek V. |title=The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record |date=1973 |publisher=Halsted (Wiley) |location=New York |pages=114}}</ref> pioneering the rediscovery of the latter after many decades of disregard.<ref name="elsevier2"/>
=== Selected publications ===
* ''A monograph of the British Liassic Rhynchonellidæ'' (1956–1967)<ref name="tandfonline"/> * ''Principles of Paleoecology'' (1963)<ref name="Principles"/> * ''The nature of the stratigraphical record'' (1973, 1993)<ref name="The Nature"/> * ''Geology of Europe'' (1980)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ager |first=D. V. |title=The geology of Europe: a regional approach |date=1980 |publisher=Halsted Press |isbn=978-0-470-26990-9 |location=New York}}</ref>
===Reception of his writings=== Some of Ager's books reached wide audiences. His 1973 book, ''The nature of the stratigraphical record'' was described as 'brief, cheerful, iconoclastic and compelling' by a reviewer, writing in Scientific American.<ref name=SciAm>{{cite journal|last=Morrison|first=Philip|title=Reviewed Work(s): The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record by Derek V. Ager|journal=Scientific American|volume=233|pages=194–196|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24949901|date=September 1975}}</ref> This book was also eminently quotable, written in eight pithy chapters, each summed up in an aphorism that captured the essence of the essay. Of these, perhaps the best known is the quote ''Nothing is worldwide, but everything is episodic .... The history of any one part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror''.<ref name=SciAm/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Slatter|first=Janet|journal=Mercian Geologist|title=Secretary's Report 2021/22|volume=20|page=210|year=2022|url=https://www.emgs.org.uk/uploads/1/4/9/1/149143154/mg20_3_2022_complete.pdf}}</ref>
== Legacy == In 1993, a special volume of the journal ''Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology'', of which he was editor for 25 years, was dedicated to him.
Four genera of fossil organisms were named in his honour: the Jurassic thecideide brachiopod ''Agerinella'' Pajaud & Patrulius, 1964,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pajaud |first=Daniel |last2=Patrulius |first2=Dan |date=1964-01-01 |title=Sur la presence de trois especes de Thecideidae (Brachiopodes) en Roumanie |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sgf/bsgf/article/S7-VI/4/579/518616/Sur-la-presence-de-trois-especes-de-Thecideidae |journal=Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France |language=en |volume=S7-VI |issue=4 |pages=579–585 |doi=10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-VI.4.579 |issn=1777-5817|url-access=subscription }}</ref> the Jurassic bivalve ''Agerchlamys'' Damborenea, 1993,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Damborenea |first=S. E |date=1993-01-01 |title=Early Jurassic South American pectinaceans and circum-Pacific palaeobiogeography |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/003101829390036I |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |series=Brachiopod and Molluscan Biogeography, Palaeoecology and Stratigraphy |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=109–123 |doi=10.1016/0031-0182(93)90036-I |issn=0031-0182|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Agerchlamys |url=https://pectinidae.weebly.com/agerchlamys.html |access-date=2026-02-26 |website=Pectinidae |language=en}}</ref> the Cretaceous gastropod ''Ageria'' Abbass, 1973,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=L |first=Abbass, H |date=1973 |title=SOME BRITISH CRETACEOUS GASTROPODS BELONGING TO THE FAMILIES PROCERITHIIDAE CERITHIIDAE AND CERITHIOPSIDAE CERITHIACEA |url=http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/83419 |journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) |language=en |volume=23 |issn=0007-1471 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20170929024308/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/83419 |archive-date=2017-09-29}}</ref> and the Jurassic foraminifer ''Agerella'' Turvey, 2003 (= ''Agerina'' Farinacci, 1991 non Tjernvik, 1956);<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Turvey |first=Samuel T. |date=2003-11-01 |title=A replacement name for ''Agerina'' Farinacci, 1991 (Foraminifera) ''non'' Tjernvik, 1956 |url=https://jm.copernicus.org/articles/22/139/2003/ |journal=Journal of Micropalaeontology |language=en |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=139–139 |doi=10.1144/jm.22.2.139 |issn=2041-4978|doi-access=free }}</ref> as well as a number of species, among which the Early Jurassic brachiopod ''Tetrarhynchia ageri'' Rousselle & Bisch, 1967<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rousselle |first=Lucienne |last2=Bisch |first2=Jean Philippe |date=1967-01-01 |title=Deux nouvelles especes de Tetrarhynchiinae (rhynchonelles) dans le Lias moyen du Causse moyen-atlasique (Maroc) |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sgf/bsgf/article/S7-IX/5/777/518376/Deux-nouvelles-especes-de-Tetrarhynchiinae |journal=Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France |language=en |volume=S7-IX |issue=5 |pages=777–783 |doi=10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-IX.5.777 |issn=1777-5817|url-access=subscription }}</ref> (current name ''Gibbirhynchia ageri'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alméras |first=Yves |last2=Elmi |first2=Serge |last3=Fauré |first3=Philippe |date=2007 |title=Les brachiopodes liasiques d'Algérie occidentale |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/geoly_0750-6635_2007_mon_163_1 |journal=Travaux et Documents des Laboratoires de Géologie de Lyon |volume=163 |issue=1 |pages=3–241}}</ref>
== Notes ==
<references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ager, Derek}} Category:1923 births Category:1993 deaths Category:British palaeontologists Category:British geologists Category:Royal Tank Regiment soldiers Category:Alumni of Imperial College London Category:Lyell Medal winners Category:Academics of Swansea University Category:People educated at The John Lyon School