Watson in Mayfair
Speaking before delegates at the end of the day, she said: “Those of you who are familiar with this building may have noticed as you walked into this Meeting Room that its familiar doors now bears the title in gold lettering “JANET WATSON LECTURE THEATRE”, and that this wall is now adorned by a newly commissioned painting of Janet, in acrylics, by renowned portrait artist Alice Hesketh.
“When I became President, the idea of naming this room for Janet was not new; but I always felt strongly about it, and following a test of opinion among the Fellowship, decided to proceed with the idea. The response, in letters to the Editor of Geoscientist, was overwhelmingly positive; though one I remember particularly - not because it was unusual in being negative, but for the correspondent’s reason. While praising Janet’s geological researches, he made the point that “we would surely not be naming the Theatre after her had she not been a woman”.
“This seemed to me to be a worthy addition to the annals of “not seeing the big picture”, and it amused me very much. And I can confirm that no, we wouldn’t! The fact that Janet was a woman is exactly what this commemoration is all about. I hope that in doing so we send a signal that this Society changed irreversibly when it elected a woman President who was such a magnificent role model, inspiration and mentor for other women Earth scientists.”
Prof. Frostick then introduced three guest speakers: Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell FRS, Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, former President of the Royal Astronomical Society and current President of the Institute of Physics; Professor John Cosgrove of Imperial College, and Professor Rick Sibson FRS, of the University of Otago, New Zealand.
