Trevor Palmer was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1944. He was educated in natural sciences, specialising in biochemistry, and obtained an honours degree from Cambridge University, followed by a PhD from London University for a study of genetic disorders. After an initial career as a biomedical scientist, he transferred into education and was Dean of Science and then Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) at Nottingham Trent University from 1992 until his retirement in 2006, when he became an Emeritus Professor of the University. He was a member of the Executive, University Heads of Biological Sciences, from 1991 to 1995, and a Member of the Executive, UK Deans of Science, from 1997 to 2003. He was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Biology and a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences. After he retired, he moved with his wife Jan to Fife in Scotland.
His investigations of genetic disorders led to an interest in evolution, and that in turn to catastrophism. He was a member of the Council of the Society for Interdisciplinary Studies (SIS) from 1986 to 2024, and Chairman from 1995 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2002. From 2014 to 2018, he was Editorial Coordinator for SIS, and continued to provide assistance to editorial activities until 2024, when SIS ceased publication of articles. He wrote three books on catastrophism and related topics: Catastrophism, Neocatastrophism and Evolution (SIS, 1993); Controversy: Catastrophism and Evolution – the Ongoing Debate (Plenum/Kluwer, 1999); and Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophes and Catastrophism through the Ages (Cambridge University Press, 2003). Over decades, Trevor was a steadying influence in SIS, making sure that all relevant information was available to authors. For example, he did not support any particular reconstruction of ancient history; his role was to ensure as far as possible that those researching the subject were aware of the full range of evidence. To this end, he wrote a series of detailed articles reviewing the various attempts to reconstruct ancient history since Velikovsky, entitled Ages In Chaos Revisited. These were published by SIS in 2018 and 2019.
Since he retired from SIS, he worked on completing his final articles, on Greek Historians and their Role in the Development of Modern Ideas on Old World Chronologies, and Catastrophism, Neocatastrophism and Evolution II, the latter being finished in October 2025. He labelled them as SIS publications. They are available on the Academia web-site. As usual with Trevor, the work was comprehensive. Along with his earlier work on Writers and Re-Writers of Roman and Medieval History they are a great legacy.
Trevor passed away on the 14th August 2026.