John Sutton, 8 July 1919 - 6 September 1992

John Sutton was a geologist who made an important contribution to the understanding of the Precambrian rocks of north-west Scotland, and his methods have been applied by others in many parts of the world. His entire career was spent at Imperial College, where he was associated with the growth of the Geology Department from small beginnings to a world centre, and he took part in many of the science policy debates of the seventies and eighties. He was appointed a Vice-President of the Royal Society in 1975, and in that office he was instrumental in establishing the first contacts between the West and the scientific community in China.