Sir Kingsley Charles Dunham FRS FGS FRSE (2 January 1910 – 5 April 2001) was one of the leading British geologists and mineralogists of the 20th century.
During his tenure he supervised the drilling of the Rookhope borehole discovering, as predicted by his colleague Martin Bott, the presence of a concealed granite underlying the Pennines.
In 1967, his career culminated in accepting the directorship of the British Geological Survey, and like his time at Durham, he successfully guided that institution through a period of rapid growth into areas such as geophysics, oceanography and geochemistry.
[7] Between 1990 and 2012, the British Geological Survey's headquarters complex, in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, was named the Kingsley Dunham Centre in his honour.
The relocation and consolidation of the BGS's various, disparate branches to the Keyworth site was one of the lasting legacies of Dunham's time as Director.
However, he still attended the weekly Durham meetings (aided by his friend and colleague Dr Tony Johnson), held by the Arthur Holmes society.