Fifty years ago a Cambridge University Expedition to Ny Friesland on Svalbard led to the discovery of Ordovician limestones of almost unparalleled faunal richness. The trilobites in the rocks formed a distinct series of ‘communities’ corresponding to different water depth along the edge of an Ordovician continent. Research on these various environments has demonstrated how faunal evidence can be used to reconstruct the position of former continents and the history of life.

Richard Fortey has taken part in these geological and palaeontological advances, and since the 1990s he has also been an active science communicator. He is the author of several books, including Life: An unauthorized biography and The Earth: an intimate history, and has been a television presenter appearing on BBC Four presenting natural history programs. The department of Geosciences is proud to have him visit us at the Science Library on Tellusdagen, 7. November 2018.