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==Early life==
==Early life==
Palmer was born in [[Saint Elizabeth Parish|St Elizabeth]], [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]].<ref name="100 Great Black Britons">[http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/professor_palmer.htm Professor Palmer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920211119/http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/professor_palmer.htm |date=20 September 2011}}, 100 Great Black Britons. Retrieved 25 December 2011.</ref> His father left home when he was seven years old;<ref name=opensdoors/> afterwards his mother moved to work as a dressmaker in England in 1948, part of the [[Windrush generation]], Palmer grew up in [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]], Jamaica, in the care of his eight aunts.<ref name=Biography>{{cite web |last1=Morgan |first1=Marjorie H |title=Historical Geographies: Biography - Geoff Palmer. Extract from ''Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory'' |url=https://historicalgeographies.blogspot.com/2011/09/biography-geoff-palmer.html |website=historicalgeographies.blogspot.com |access-date=15 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402033513/https://historicalgeographies.blogspot.com/2011/09/biography-geoff-palmer.html |archive-date=2016-04-02 |date=8 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Palmer was born in [[Saint Elizabeth Parish|St Elizabeth]], [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]].<ref name="100 Great Black Britons">[http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/professor_palmer.htm Professor Palmer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920211119/http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/professor_palmer.htm |date=20 September 2011}}, 100 Great Black Britons. Retrieved 25 December 2011.</ref> His father left home when he was seven years old;<ref name=opensdoors/> afterwards his mother moved to work as a dressmaker in England in 1948,Palmer grew up in [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]], Jamaica, in the care of his eight aunts.<ref name=Biography>{{cite web |last1=Morgan |first1=Marjorie H |title=Historical Geographies: Biography - Geoff Palmer. Extract from ''Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory'' |url=https://historicalgeographies.blogspot.com/2011/09/biography-geoff-palmer.html |website=historicalgeographies.blogspot.com |access-date=15 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402033513/https://historicalgeographies.blogspot.com/2011/09/biography-geoff-palmer.html |archive-date=2016-04-02 |date=8 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>


Palmer joined his mother in London in March 1955, shortly before his 15th birthday, living at a house on the [[Caledonian Road, London|Caledonian Road]]. He told the story as a student at Heriot-Watt University that he was a stowaway on a banana boat from Jamaica to London. Too young to work, he was assessed as [[educationally subnormal]] at his first school,<ref name=tes/> and he was sent to [[Shelborne Road Secondary Modern]].<ref name=Biography/> His cricketing skill gained him a place on the London Schools' cricket team, and a place at [[Highbury Grammar School]].<ref name=opensdoors/> After leaving school in 1958 with six [[O-levels]] and two [[A-levels]], in botany and zoology, he found a job as a junior laboratory technician at [[Queen Elizabeth College]], [[London University]], working for Professor [[Garth Chapman]]. He gained further qualifications studying one day a week at a local polytechnic.<ref name=Biography />
Palmer joined his mother in London in March 1955, shortly before his 15th birthday, living at a house on the [[Caledonian Road, London|Caledonian Road]]. He told the story as a student at Heriot-Watt University that he was a stowaway on a banana boat from Jamaica to London. Too young to work, he was assessed as [[educationally subnormal]] at his first school,<ref name=tes/> and he was sent to [[Shelborne Road Secondary Modern]].<ref name=Biography/> His cricketing skill gained him a place on the London Schools' cricket team, and a place at [[Highbury Grammar School]].<ref name=opensdoors/> After leaving school in 1958 with six [[O-levels]] and two [[A-levels]], in botany and zoology, he found a job as a junior laboratory technician at [[Queen Elizabeth College]], [[London University]], working for Professor [[Garth Chapman]]. He gained further qualifications studying one day a week at a local polytechnic.<ref name=Biography />

Revision as of 13:21, 15 June 2025

Sir Geoff Palmer
KT OBE CD
Born
Godfrey Henry Oliver Palmer

(1940-04-09)9 April 1940
St Elizabeth, Jamaica
Died12 June 2025(2025-06-12) (aged 85)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Alma materUniversity of Leicester
University of Edinburgh
Heriot-Watt University
Known for
  • First black professor in Scotland
  • Barley abrasion process
Scientific career
Doctoral advisorEdmund Hirst
Other academic advisorsAnna Macleod

Sir Godfrey Henry Oliver Palmer (9 April 1940 – 12 June 2025),[1] commonly known as Geoff Palmer, was a Jamaican-British academic and human rights activist who was professor emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.[2][3]

Palmer discovered the barley abrasion process while he was a researcher at Heriot-Watt University under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Anna Macleod. In 1998, Palmer was honoured with the American Society of Brewing Chemists Award of Distinction,[4] considered the "Nobel Prize of brewing".[5]

In 1989, he became the first black professor in Scotland,[6] becoming a professor emeritus after he retired in 2005. He was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours.[7][8]

Early life

Palmer was born in St Elizabeth, Jamaica.[9] His father left home when he was seven years old;[10] afterwards his mother moved to work as a dressmaker in England in 1948,Palmer grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, in the care of his eight aunts.[11]

Palmer joined his mother in London in March 1955, shortly before his 15th birthday, living at a house on the Caledonian Road. He told the story as a student at Heriot-Watt University that he was a stowaway on a banana boat from Jamaica to London. Too young to work, he was assessed as educationally subnormal at his first school,[5] and he was sent to Shelborne Road Secondary Modern.[11] His cricketing skill gained him a place on the London Schools' cricket team, and a place at Highbury Grammar School.[10] After leaving school in 1958 with six O-levels and two A-levels, in botany and zoology, he found a job as a junior laboratory technician at Queen Elizabeth College, London University, working for Professor Garth Chapman. He gained further qualifications studying one day a week at a local polytechnic.[11]

In 1961, Palmer went to the University of Leicester, earning a degree (2:2) in botany in 1964.[11] He sought post-graduate work, and applied to study for an MSc at the University of Nottingham, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, but he was unsuccessful at interview.[10]

Academic career

After an interview with Professor Anna Macleod, in 1964, he secured a place to study for a PhD in grain science and technology jointly with Heriot-Watt College and the University of Edinburgh, beginning his doctorate in 1965. His PhD supervisor at Edinburgh was the chemist Sir Edmund Hirst.[12] After completing his PhD thesis entitled Ultra-structure of cereal grains in relation to germination in 1967,[13][14] he began his research work at the Brewing Research Foundation in Surrey in 1968,[11] where he worked on the science and technology of barley.[15] He moved back to Heriot-Watt University in 1977.[16] He received a Doctorate of Science in 1985,[11] and was offered a personal chair at Heriot-Watt in 1989 after Macleod had retired.[5]

Palmer specialised in grain science and had extensive expertise with barley, sorghum, other cereals and malt, having written a textbook on the subject entitled Cereal Science and Technology. He investigated the processes that turn barley into malt, and he invented the barley abrasion process while at the Brewing Research Foundation. At Heriot-Watt, he and his students worked on brewing using sorghum. He developed a new simple method to detect pre-germination in cereal grains showing difference in amylase actions of individual grains of a barley sample containing different degrees of pre-germination, with results that can be expressed in optical density. In the journal International Brewer and Distiller, it was reported that Palmer had "requested samples of pre-germinated grain as he is developing a new amylase test which will look at the distribution of the enzyme across individual grains in a sample. A small number of grains, with high amylase/pre-germination activity, can cause unexpected storage or processing problems and visual or average analyses do not always identify uneven distribution."[17]

He attracted and received funding to set up the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University, through initiating contact with the distilling industry. He also contributed to the Encyclopedia of Seeds and the Encyclopedia of Grain Science, writing the foreword for the latter.[18]

On 29 April 2021, it was announced that Sir Geoff Palmer had been appointed the Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, for an initial term of five years.[19] The role was central to promoting Heriot-Watt's prominence and profile in research in the university's campuses in Scotland, Malaysia and Dubai.[20]

Views

Human rights and racial equality work

Alongside his academic work, Palmer was also a prominent human rights activist and was involved in a considerable amount of charity work in the community. He wrote a series of articles for the Times Educational Supplement from 1969 to 1971 on ways to improve the education of children from ethnic minorities.[9] His book on race relations entitled Mr. White and the Ravens, was first published in 2001,[21] and he contributed an article to The Scotsman entitled 'Stephen Lawrence analysis: Society is more mixed but racism has not gone away – we still have a long way to go' (5 January 2012).[22] Palmer also authored a book on the history of slavery, The Enlightenment Abolished: Citizens of Britishness (2007), and spoke out extensively against the slave trade.[23][24] As an accepted world authority on slavery and the Atlantic slave trade, Toronto and the City of Edinburgh Councils have adopted his views rather than new research from Sir Tom Devine.[25]

In 2007, the Bicentenary of the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807 by Parliament, which abolished the slave trade, Professor Geoff Palmer was named among the "100 Great Black Britons",[26] as well as on the 2020 updated list.

He served as the Honorary President of Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC), an Edinburgh-based organisation which works to tackle discrimination and promote human rights and equality in the community, specifically with regard to the nine protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010.[27] Palmer spoke about the Ethnic Coding in NHS Scotland at ELREC's 40th Annual General Meeting.[28]

Melville Monument and slavery

During the George Floyd protests, Palmer was a leading proponent of calls to reinterpret the Melville Monument, a large column in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh dedicated to Scottish statesman Henry Dundas, due to his support for "gradual abolition", which delayed the abolition of the slave trade by fifteen years. Noting that he did not support the removal of controversial statues "because [they are] part of black history", Palmer instead called on Scottish society to "take down... racism."[29] On 4 April 2021, Palmer appeared on an episode of the BBC's Antiques Roadshow, presenting his antique collection of silver sugar bowls and tongs.[30] On the programme, he described the significance of these items to slavery: "After the 200 year commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade I decided to look at sugar, because it was one of the main reasons for slavery. I thought I would find some evidence of this and acquired these silver items. While slaves were working and dying, people... were consuming the sugar, in those bowls, and with those tongs. To me, those silver bowls tell us the sort of things we do in order to make money, and to have a lifestyle that we think we deserve."[31]

Awards and honours

In recognition of his work and achievements in the field of grain science, Palmer was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2003 Birthday Honours.[9]

In 1998, Palmer became the fourth individual, and first European, to be honoured with the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) Award for distinction in scientific research and good citizenship: he received the award in Boston, Massachusetts in 2008.[9] Palmer was awarded Honorary Doctorates by Abertay University in 2009,[32] The Open University in 2010,[11][33] the University of the West Indies in 2015,[34] and Heriot-Watt University in 2015.[35][36]

He was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to human rights, science, and charity.[37][38][39]

In August 2015, Palmer was the guest of interviewer Jim Al-Khalili on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific.[40]

In 2020, Palmer was awarded Commander of Order of Distinction in the Jamaican national honour.[41] In December 2021 the Citizens Advice building in Penicuik was named Palmer House in his honour.[42]

On 14 November 2022, he received the Edinburgh Award from the Edinburgh City Council.[43][44]

In December 2022, with Lord Carloway, Lord President of the Court of Session, Palmer unveiled a plaque commemorating the 1778 Knight v Wedderburn case, which ruled that slavery was incompatible with Scots law.[45]

In March 2024, King Charles III appointed Palmer a knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (KT), the highest order of chivalry in Scotland.[46][47][48]

Personal life

Palmer lived in the town of Penicuik in Midlothian from 1977 onwards.[7] He was married to educational psychologist Margaret Palmer and had three children.[10]

Death

On 12 June 2025, Palmer died aged 85.[49]

References

  1. ^ "Godfrey Henry Oliver (Geoff) PALMER". Debrett's People of Today. Archived from the original on 10 November 2014.
  2. ^ "The Z Files: Professor Geoff Palmer". Open University. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  3. ^ "Professor Geoff Palmer to Made Freeman Midlothian" (Press release). Heriot-Watt University. 14 September 2011. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012.
  4. ^ "Award of Distinction". American Society of Brewing Chemists. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "Keith Joseph suggested I 'go back and grow bananas'". Times Educational Supplement. 15 August 2003. Archived from the original on 13 June 2025. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  6. ^ Auslan Cramb, "Claim that Scots are more tolerant of immigration is a 'myth', says country's first black professor", Daily Telegraph, 10 March 2015.
  7. ^ a b "First black university professor knighted", Herald Scotland, 31 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Godfrey Henry Palmer is Scotland's first black professor in Scotland", jackiekemp.com. Retrieved 25 December 2011.[dead link]
  9. ^ a b c d Professor Palmer Archived 20 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 100 Great Black Britons. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  10. ^ a b c d Kemp, Jackie (28 September 2010). "Jamaican scientist opens doors for African-Caribbean children". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Morgan, Marjorie H (8 September 2011). "Historical Geographies: Biography - Geoff Palmer. Extract from Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory". historicalgeographies.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  12. ^ "Alumni profiles > Graduation year > 1960s > Geoff Palmer". The University of Edinburgh. 28 October 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  13. ^ Palmer, Geoff (1967). "Ultra-structure of cereal grains in relation to germination". era.ed.ac.uk.
  14. ^ Palmer, Geoff (9 June 1967). Ultra-structure of cereal grains in relation to germination. OCLC 606124041 – via Open WorldCat.
  15. ^ "Geoff PALMER, Grain Scientist". Penicuik Greats (from Penicuik Community Development Trust’s PenicuikGREATS exhibitions held in Penicuik Town Hall 2005–2009. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014.
  16. ^ "Anti-racism chief given knighthood". Edinburgh Evening News. 15 January 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
  17. ^ International Brewer and Distiller, 8:8 (August 2012), 5.
  18. ^ Palmer, G. H. (2004). "Foreward". Encyclopedia of Grain Science: vii. doi:10.1016/B0-12-765490-9/90005-3. ISBN 978-0-12-765490-4.
  19. ^ Jackson, Luke (29 April 2021). "Penicuik's Sir Geoff Palmer is the new Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University". www.midlothianview.com. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  20. ^ Phyllis, Stephen (29 April 2021). "Sir Geoff Palmer is appointed Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  21. ^ Palmer, Geoff (9 June 2001). Mr White and the ravens. Gopher. OCLC 48932829 – via Open WorldCat.
  22. ^ Palmer, Geoff (5 January 2012). "Stephen Lawrence analysis: Society is more mixed but racism has not gone away – we still have a long way to go". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  23. ^ "Transcript of 'Trading Truth' clip", BBC. Retrieved 25 December 2011. Archived 9 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Kemp, Jackie (25 November 2008). "Tartan and home truths. A new centre for the study of the Scottish diaspora is already caught up in controversy". [[[The Guardian]]. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  25. ^ McCarthy, Angela (13 May 2022). "Bad History: The Controversy over Henry Dundas and the Historiography of the Abolition of the Slave Trade". Scottish Affairs. 31 (2): 133–153. doi:10.3366/scot.2022.0404. Retrieved 13 June 2025 – via euppublishing.com (Atypon).
  26. ^ List of 100 Great Black Britons. Archived 15 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine 100 Great Black Britons. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  27. ^ "About us > honorary position". Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC). 12 March 2012. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012.
  28. ^ "ELREC Newsletter, December 2011" (PDF). Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012.
  29. ^ Huet, Natalie; Wright, Rosie (11 June 2020). "Sir Geoff Palmer: 'Don't take down statues – take down racism'". Euronews. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  30. ^ Jolene Campbell (5 April 2021). "Sir Geoff Palmer shared 'hugely poignant' evidence of Slave Trade on Antiques Roadshow". Edinburgh Evening News Scotsman.
  31. ^ "Antiques Roadshow". BBC IPlayer − Antiques Roadshow (series 43, Culdean Castle). BBC. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  32. ^ "2009 > Abertay announces honorary graduands" (Press release). Abertay University. 6 July 2009. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015.
  33. ^ "Conferment of Honorary Degrees and Presentation of Graduates" (PDF). Open University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2016.
  34. ^ "21 Honorary Degrees at The UWI Graduation Ceremonies" (Press release). University of the West Indies. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  35. ^ "Edinburgh Campus graduations" (Press release). Heriot-Watt University. 23 June 2015. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023.
  36. ^ "Penicuik Man to Join Nelson Mandela as a Freeman of Midlothian" (Press release). Midlothian Council. 26 August 2011. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012.
  37. ^ "No. 60728". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2013. p. 2.
  38. ^ "Eminent alumni named in New Year's Honours list" (Press release). University of Edinburgh. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  39. ^ "Scots awarded New Year's Honour", BBC News, 31 December 2013.
  40. ^ "BBC Radio 4 − The Life Scientific, Geoff Palmer". BBC.co.uk. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  41. ^ "Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor appointments". hw.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  42. ^ Wilkie, Stephen (14 December 2021). "Penicuik CAB building named 'Palmer House' in honour of Sir Geoff". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  43. ^ "Sir Geoff Palmer to receive Edinburgh Award". Heriot-Watt University. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  44. ^ "Sir Geoff Palmer receives the Edinburgh Award 2022". Edinburgh City Council. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  45. ^ "Scotland's slavery role cannot be glossed over, Lord Carloway says". BBC News. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  46. ^ "No. 64354". The London Gazette. 26 March 2024. p. 6066.
  47. ^ "University Chancellor given Scotland's highest royal honour". Heriot-Watt University. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  48. ^ "No. 64354". The London Gazette. 26 March 2024. p. 6066.
  49. ^ "Palmer, Sir Godfrey Henry Oliver, (Sir Geoff), (born 9 April 1940), Professor of Biological Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, 1992–2005, now Emeritus", Who's Who, Oxford University Press, 1 December 2014, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u269771, retrieved 13 June 2025
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