In the early 1930s Harry and his wife Margaret were "dynamic botanists" who, together with the archaeologist
Grahame Clark, led a small group of young academics at the University of Cambridge which aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the environment of past societies by integrating archaeological knowledge with new scientific techniques in geology and plant sciences, instead of the traditional archaeologists' study of artefacts in isolation. His work began in botany and plant physiology, and he continued this throughout his career, eventually becoming
Professor of Botany (1960–1967). However his most notable work was in the development of the science of
ecology, which was, at the start of his career, in its infancy. He was an early exponent of the study of
ecological successions, such as in the
fen wetlands at
Wicken Fen in
Cambridgeshire, where he established the
Godwin Plots which can be still seen there today. He was the founder and first director of the Subdepartment of
Quaternary Research at the
University of Cambridge in 1948, where he supervised pioneering work on the new technique of
radiocarbon dating. Harry Godwin was a stimulating teacher and researcher. His students include many famous practitioners including Richard West, Sir
Nick Shackleton, Joakim Donner and many others.
Peat archives Authors Rydin and Jeglum in
Biology of Habitats described the concept of
peat archives, a phrase coined by Godwin in 1981. == Notable students and trainees ==