Dr C.A. Fleming Next A.N.Z.A.A.S. President

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31587, 26 January 1968, Page 14

Dr C.A. Fleming Next A.N.Z.A.A.S. President

Dr C. A. Fleming, chief palaeontologist of the Geological Survey of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, will be the next president of the Australian and New Zealand Associations for the Advancement of Science.

He will take office in six months and continue as president until six months after the next A.N.Z.A.A.S. congress in Adelaide in August, 1969.

He will be the first New Zealand president since 1954, when Sir Theodore Rigg held office. Dr Fleming’s acceptance of the office was announced by the association’s president (Sir John Craw-ford) yesterdayafternoon—instead of at the end of the congress, as is usual. “I might say that the council of A.N.Z.A.A.S. is delighted that Dr Fleming has agreed to become president.

after a unanimous selection,” Sir John Crawford said. Dr Fleming, whose interests cover several aspects of zoology as well as geology, and who describes himself as a naturalist, said that it was a great honour and responsibility to succeed a long line of A.N.Z.A.A.S. presidents, particularly Sir John Crawford, who had done a great deal for A.N.Z.A.A.S., even though he had run only half the course so far. “New Zealand has played its part since there has been an A.N.Z.A.A.5.,” said Dr Fleming, “although it is hard for New Zealanders to participate fully in the way somebody in Australia can.” Dr Fleming, who is 53, was last year elected a fellow of the Royal Society, London. He was born and educated in Auckland, and gained his doctorate in science in 1952, after working for 12 years as palaeontologist with Hie Geological Survey. His main work has been on the geological history of New Zealand and its plants and animals, especially shellfish. He has published works on New Zealand birds and on several aspects of geology. Dr Fleming is a Hector and Hutton medallist of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and has also been awarded the Walter Burfitt medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales. He is a fellow and past-president of the Royal Society of New Zealand.