Professor Bassett was born on 31th March 1943 in the town of Barry, South Wales and was educated locally.  He went on to study at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BSc Honours degree. He continued his education at University College, Swansea where he gained his PhD for the monographic study on the Silurian (Wenlock) stratigraphy and brachiopods of Wales and the Welsh Borderland.

Soon after, in October 1967, he joined the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.  He worked there for the next 40 years, firstly as the Assistant Keeper of Geology and subsequently as the Senior Keeper and Head of the Geology Department, until his retirement in 2008. For a number of years he was an Honorary Professor and Lecturer at Cardiff University and also spent extended research stays abroad, in particular at the Natural History Museum, Oslo, and in Sweden, working on Gotland and at Uppsala University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

He also served as the Secretary General and First Vice Chairman of the International Commission on Stratigraphy, IUGS. At that time, he made significant contributions to the development of the International Geochronological Scale and, especially, subdivision of the Silurian System.

Professor Bassett was amongst the brightest researchers of his generation, working mainly on the palaeontology and stratigraphy of the Lower Palaeozoic. He was widely known as an outstanding expert on Palaeozoic brachiopods, biostratigraphy and facies developments worldwide, but particularly in the U.K. and Scandinavia. He also made important contributions to the study of brachiopod palaeobiology, especially their early ontogeny and phylogeny.

During his long scientific career, Professor Bassett received a number of awards and recognitions related to his research. In particular, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Uppsala University in 2000 and in December 2006 he was appointed for two years as the President of The Palaeontological Association, one of the world's leading societies in palaeontological studies.

During his time as Keeper of Geology, he significantly raised the profile of the National Museum of Wales as an internationally recognised research centre, creating strong research links, not only in North American and European countries, but also with Argentina, China and developing countries such as Kazakhstan, Iran and Uzbekistan. He also played a key role as the organiser of a number of highly successful exhibitions, such as the ground-breaking ‘Dinosaurs from China’ (1986-1987), ‘Mammoths and the Ice Age’ (1991–1992), and ‘Flight’ (2001). The highly popular, award-winning ‘Evolution of Wales’ exhibition is his long-lasting legacy.

Following retirement, Professor Bassett actively continued his research, dedicated to such topics as geotourism highlights of Gotland, description of a new group of the Late Ordovician Silurian chileide brachiopods, biogeography of the Ordovician linguliforms and craniiforms, taxonomy and early ontogeny of the Silurian craniide brachiopods from Gotland. The last paper authorised by him was published in 2017. It was dedicated to the early ontogeny of the Silurian brachiopod Coolinia.

He passed away on 15th January 2023.

Lars E. Holmer, Leonid Popov and Mansoureh Ghobadi Pour

Some of his publications on brachiopods...

Azmy K., Veizer J., Bassett M.G. & Copper P., 1998. Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of Silurian brachiopods: Implications for coeval seawater and glaciations. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 110 (11), 1499-1512.

Azmy K., Veizer J., Wenzel B., Bassett M.G. & Copper P., 1999. Silurian strontium isotope stratigraphy. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 111 (4), 475-483.

Bassett, M.G. (ed.), 1976. The Ordovician System. Proceedings of a Palaeontological Association Symposium. University of Wales Press, Cardiff.

Bassett M.G. 1979. 100 years of Ordovician geology. Episodes, 8, 18-21,

Bassett M. G., 1979. Brachiopods. In: Lower Wenlock faunal and floral dynamics - Vattenfallet section, Gotland. Jaanusson A., Laufeld S. & R. Skoglund Eds., 294 p. Sver. geol. Undersökning, C 762, 185-206.

Bassett M. G., 198*. Life strategies of the Silurian brachiopods. Spec. Pap. Palaeontology, 32, 237-263.

Bassett M. G., 1986. Brachiopodes Inarticulés. In: Le groupe de Lievin. Pridoli-Lochkovien de l'Artois (N. France). Sédimentologie - Paléontologie - Stratigraphie. Racheboeuf P. R. Ed. Biostratigr. Paléozoïque, 3, 85-97.

Bassett M. G. & C. Bryant, 1993. The micromorphic rhynchonelloidean brachiopod Lambdarina from the type Dinantian. J. Paleont., 67 (4), 518-527.

Bassett M. G., Holmer L. E., Popov L. E. & J. Laurie, 1995. Phylogenetic analysis and classifiction of the Brachiopoda - reply and comments. Lethaia, 26, 385-386.

Bassett M. G., Popov L. E. & E. V. Sokiran, 1999. Patterns of diversification in Ordovician cyrtomatodont rhynchonellate brachiopods. Acta Univers. Carolinae - Geol., 43 (1/2), 329-332.

Bassett M. G., Popov L. E. & Holmer L. E., 2002. Brachiopods: Cambrian-Tremadoc precursors to Ordovician radiation events. Geol. Soc., London, Sp. Publ., 194, 13-23.

Bassett M. G., Pour M. G., Popov L. E. &M. K. Zadeh, 2013. First report of craniide brachiopods in the Palaeozoic of Iran (Pseudocrania, Ordovician), and Early to Mid-Ordovician biogeography of the Craniida. Palaeontology, 56, 209-216.

Bassett M.G., Popov L.E. & Holmer L.E., 2004. The oldest-known metazoan parasite? Journal of Paleontology, 78 (6), 1214-1216.

Bassett MG., Popov LE., Holmer LE, 1999. Organophosphatic brachiopods: Patterns of biodiversification and extinction in the early Palaeozoic Geobios, 32 (2), 145-163.

Fortey R.A., Bassett M.G. et al. 1991. Progress and problems in the selection of stratotypes for the bases of series in the Ordovician System of the historical type area in the U.K. In: Barnes, C.R. and Williams, S.H. (eds) Advances in Ordovician Geology. Geological Survey of Canada, Papers, 90-9, 5-25.

Holmer L. E., Popov L. E. & M. G. Bassett, 2000. Early Ordovician organophosphatic brachiopods with Baltoscandian affinities from the Alay Range, southern Kyrgyzstan. GFF, 122, 367-375.

Holmer L. E., Popov L. E., Bassett M. G. & J. Laurie, 1995. Phylogenetic analysis and ordinal classification of the Brachiopoda. Palaeontology, 38 (4), **

Holmer L.E., Popov L. & M. G. Bassett, 2013. Silurian craniide brachiopods from Gotland. Palaeontology, 56 (5), 1029-1044.

Nikitin I.F., Popov L.E. & Bassett M.G., 2003. Late Ordovician brachiopods from the Selety river basin, north Central Kazakhstan. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 48 (1), 39–54.

Owens R. M., R. A. Fortey, J. C. W. Cope, A. W. A. Rushton & M. G. Bassett, 1982. Tremadoc faunas from the Carmarthen district, South Wales. Geol. Mag., 119 (1), 1-112.

Popov L. E., Bassett M. G., Holmer L. E. & J. Laurie, 1993. Phylogenetic analysis of higher taxa of Brachiopoda. Lethaia, 36, 1-5.

Popov L. E., Bassett M. G., Holmer L. E. & V. Yu. Goryjansky, 1999. Ordovician patterns of diversification in craniiformean brachiopods. Acta Univers. Carolinae - Geol., 43 (1/2), 321-324.

Popov L. E., Holmer L. E., Bassett M. G., Pour M. G. & I. G. Percival, 2013. Chapter 10. Biogeography of Ordovician linguliform and craniiform brachiopods. Memoirs of the Geological Society of London, 38, 117-126.

Popov L.E., Bassett M.G. & Holmer L.E., 2012. Earliest ontogeny of Early Palaeozoic Craniiformea: compelling evidence for lecithotrophy. Lethaia, 45, 566–573.

Popov L.E., Bassett M.G., Holmer L.E., Skovsted C.B. & Zuykov M.A., 2010. Earliest ontogeny of Early Palaeozoic Craniiformea: implications for brachiopod phylogeny. Lethaia, 43, 323-333.

Sutton M. D., Bassett M. G. & L. Cherns, 2000. The type species of Lingulella (Cambrian Brachiopoda). J. Paleont., 74 (3), 426-438.

Collated by Christian C. Emig, BrachNet