Lillie, Arnold Robert (1909-1999.)
Dates
- Existence: 1909-1999.
- Usage: 1909 - 1999
biographical statement
Arnold Robert Lillie was the Professor of Geology at The University of Auckland from 1951 to 1974. Born in Argentina in March 1909, Lillie was the third of four sons in a Scottish- Argentinian family.
At 16 Lillie left school to work for a mining engineer surveying underground coal mines. In his spare time he went mountain climbing, both mountains and mountain climbing were to become life- long passions.
During the early 1930s Lillie studied Geology at Cambridge University then completed a PhD at the University of Geneva. Lillie’s PhD thesis examined the complex structural geology of an area in the Haute-Savoie region on the French Swiss Border. On completion of his doctorate Lillie took a position with Shell in Holland.
In 1933 Lillie had married Rhonda Frankenburg, the daughter of a prominent Manchester family of Jewish origins and together they would have four children.
As the situation Europe deteriorated, Shell told Lillie that he was being transferred to Borneo but that Rhonda and their two children would have to remain in Europe. Lillie resigned from Shell and looked for other opportunities. Lillie applied for a position with the New Zealand Geological Survey and in April 1939 Lillie and his family arrived in New Zealand.
During the Second World War Lillie worked for the DSIR, surveying and mapping New Zealand’s energy resources. In 1946-47 he was employed as a geologist by the Auckland Museum before returning to Wellington to teach Geology at Victoria University.
During Lillie’s time as professor the Geology Department in Auckland grew rapidly, staff numbers increased from 2 to 25, and modern instrument based geological and geophysical methods were introduced. Lillie introduced courses on mapping and for many years took students to the Southern Alps each summer to teach mountain and geological mapping skills.
The focus of Lillie’s field work included the structure of the Southern Alps and from 1964 the geology of New Caledonia. Lillie was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1961. For a number of years he was the Dean of Science at Auckland and was the founder of the Auckland University Science Society.
Lillie died in February 1999 just short of his 90th birthday.