{{Short description|New Zealand geologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Pat Suggate | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|size=100%}} | birth_name = Richard Patrick Suggate | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|03|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Islington, London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|06|16|1922|03|17|df=y}} | death_place = Wellington, New Zealand | spouse = {{marriage|Olwyn Daphne Reynolds|1944|2012|end=d.}} | relatives = Eugenie Sage (daughter-in-law) | module = {{Infobox scientist |embed=yes | fields = Geology | workplaces = New Zealand Geological Survey | alma_mater = University of Oxford | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = FRSNZ <small>(1963)</small><br>Hutton Medal <small>(1983)</small><br>McKay Hammer <small>(2001)</small><br>CNZM <small>(2003)</small> | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | signature_alt = }} }} '''Richard Patrick Suggate''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|size=85%}} (17 March 1922 – 16 June 2016) was a New Zealand geologist, known for his research into coal properties and coal rank, and into the advances and retreats of New Zealand's glaciers. From 1974 to 1986, he served as director of the New Zealand Geological Survey.

==Early life and family== Born in Islington, London, England, on 17 March 1922,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?ti=5544&indiv=try&db=bt26&h=1314572 |title=UK, incoming passenger lists, 1878–1960 |year=2008 |website= |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |accessdate=19 June 2016 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.712835 |title=Interview with Pat Suggate |year=2005 |website= |publisher=Alexander Turnbull Library |accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref> Suggate was the son of Leonard Suggate and Florence Burden. He was educated at the University of Oxford, graduating with a Master of Arts.<ref name="FRSNZ"/><ref name="Te Ara">{{cite web |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7409/pat-suggate-coal-scientist |title=Coal and coal mining – the nature of coal |date=9 July 2013 |website=Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand | last1=Sherwood | first1=Alan | last2=Phillips | first2=Jock | publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref> He married Olwyn Daphne Reynolds in London on 1 November 1944.<ref name="Chronicle">{{cite news | url=https://issuu.com/sthughscollegeoxford/docs/chronicle_1944-1945 | title=Marriages | page=7 | work=Chronicle | publisher=St Hugh's College, Oxford | year=1944–1945 | number=17 | accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref> Suggate served with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as a lieutenant during World War II.<ref name="Chronicle"/>

==Career== Emigrating to New Zealand in 1947, Suggate joined the New Zealand Geological Survey. Initially based in Greymouth, he worked with Harold Wellman to investigate the coal resources around Murchison.<ref name="Te Ara"/> He went on to make major contributions to geological mapping in New Zealand, and to the effect of coal rank on its properties.<ref name="Te Ara"/> He showed how peat is transformed into coal when buried in sedimentary basins,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0111/S00073/79-year-old-wins-nzs-top-geology-award.htm | title=79-Year-old wins NZ's top geology award | date=30 November 2001 | work=Scoop Independent News | accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref> and showed that coal and organic sediments are the origin of gas and oil fields in New Zealand, and not marine deposits as previously believed.<ref name="Evening Post 2001"/>

In 1961, Suggate was awarded a Doctor of Science degree by the University of New Zealand through Canterbury University College on the basis of papers submitted.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university22.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Sl–Sz |date= |website= |publisher= |accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref>

Suggate rose to become director of the New Zealand Geological Survey in 1974, retiring in 1986.<ref name="Te Ara"/> However, he continued to be an active researcher, and developed the Suggate rank scheme, which is used internationally by oil exploration companies to measure the oil and gas potential of sedimentary rocks.<ref name="Te Ara"/><ref name="Evening Post 2001">{{cite news | title=Age no barrier for geologist | date=3 December 2001 | work=Evening Post | page=16 | first=Bernie | last=Napp}}</ref> In this period, he also completed a number of geological mapping projects, and made a significant contribution to research on the advance and retreat of glaciers near Hokitika.<ref name="Evening Post 2001"/>

Suggate died in Wellington on 16 June 2016.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://deaths.dompost.co.nz/obituaries/dominion-post-nz/obituary.aspx?pid=180366538 | title=Richard Suggate death notice | date=18 June 2016 | work=Dominion Post | accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref>

==Honours and awards== Suggate was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1963.<ref name="FRSNZ">{{cite web |url=http://royalsociety.org.nz/organisation/academy/fellowship/fellows-1919-present/s-u/ |title=The Academy: S–U |date= |website= |publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand |accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref> In 1983 he was awarded the Hutton Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/awards/hutton-medal/recipients/ |title=Hutton Medal recipients | date= |website= |publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand |accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref> and in 2001 he received the McKay Hammer from the Geological Society of New Zealand, for the most outstanding published research on New Zealand geology over the preceding three years.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/2001/11/29/204/ | title=Geological Society of NZ awards for 2001 | date=29 November 2001 | work=Alert Newsletter | publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand | accessdate=19 June 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813235829/http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/2001/11/29/204/ | archive-date=13 August 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the 2003 New Year Honours, Suggate was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to geology.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2003 | title=New Year honours list 2003 |date=31 December 2002 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | accessdate=26 July 2019}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

{{Recipients of the Hutton Medal}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suggate, Pat}} Category:1922 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Scientists from London Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:British emigrants to New Zealand Category:20th-century New Zealand geologists Category:People associated with Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Zealand) Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Category:21st-century New Zealand geologists Category:New Zealand cartographers