William Dixon West

He also became interested in geology and studied the subject at St John's College, Cambridge where a major influence was the petrologist Alfred Harker.

He worked with Lewis L. Fermor in central India and then studied the Deolapar Nappe (in Sausar) which he discovered in 1936 and the Shali Window near Shimla.

He took an interest in the 1935 Quetta earthquake and suggested that it was due to strain in the looped fold axis in the region.

West became director of the Geological Survey of India in 1945 and held the position until Indian Independence when he returned to England.

He joined the university and organized a department of applied geology there, working in collaboration with manganese mining industry in the area.