About Richard Fortey

Richard Fortey is a celebrated scientist, writer and television presenter with a long career in palaeontology at the Natural History Museum in London. He studied Geology at Cambridge University and since 1997 has been a member of the Royal Society. He is one of the few scientists who is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Richard Fortey has published numerous books: The Hidden Landscape won the Natural World Book of the Year (1993), Life was shortlisted for the Rhône-Poulenc Prize (1998) and Trilobite! was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize (2001).

He was elected President of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year (2007) and was awarded the geological Society Lyell Medal for significant contribution to geology.

In 2023, Richard Fortey was awarded an OBE in the New year’s Honours List. He lives in Oxfordshire where over four decades he has indulged his passion for the study of fungi.

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