Ziad Rafiq Beydoun
| Ziad Rafiq Beydoun | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1925 Beirut |
| Died | 7 March 1998 |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Alma mater | St Peter's College, Oxford, American University of Beirut |
| Known for | expert in the petroleum geology of the Middle East |
| Awards |
William Smith Medal (1994), National Order of the Cedar (1995), Science Medal of the Yemen Republic (1998) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology |
| Institutions | Iraq Petroleum Company, Partex Ltd, Marathon Oil Corporation |
William Smith Medal (1994), National Order of the Cedar (1995),
Ziad Rafiq Beydoun (1925–1998) was a petroleum geologist, leading authority on the geology of the Middle East and Emeritus Professor at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
Born in Beirut in 1925, Ziad ("Don") Beydoun was from a distinguished family of Mutasharifs who had served in the Ottoman Empire. He was the eldest son of the District Governor in Palestine under the British Mandate. He was educated at St. George's School, Jerusalem and St. Luke's School, Haifa. He returned to Beirut to obtain a first-class degeree in political science and history at the AUB. He then studied at St Peter's College, Oxford where he obtained a degree and doctorate in geology.
On 27 August 1948, he joined the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) as an exploration geologist with a field party led by Mike Morton in north-west Syria. Beydoun was multi-lingual, speaking Arabic, English, French and Turkish, and spent the next 15 years working for the company in its oil concession areas across the Middle East. From 1949 to 1951, he was field geologist and resident geologist with various IPC associate companies: Qatar Petroleum Company, Mosul Petroleum Company and Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Ltd, where he was resident geologist for the Ras Sadr No.1 well. In 1951, he went to the Basrah Petroleum Company and in 1952 he was field and resident geologist with the Mosul Petroleum Company in the Ain Zalah field.
In 1953, Beydoun conducted a remarkable one-man survey of the island of Socotra, an island full of malaria and tribal intrigue. Later in the year, he began his association with Petroleum Concessions (Aden Protectorates) Ltd. The company, another IPC associate, had been created to explore the territory that was loosely known as "The Hadhramaut", in today's Yemen. The leader of the geological party was his old mentor Mike Morton. When Morton was called away to take part in the Duqm landings in Oman, Beydoun took over the party and led it for successive seasons until 1958. IPC withdrew from the Hadhramaut in 1961, but Beydoun would continue to publish books and papers on the geology of the Yemen. On his return to Oxford, Beydoun completed his doctorate on the basis of his field work in that country.
...
Wikipedia