Dear Colleagues,
It is with very great regret that I have to announce the death last week
of Professor R. W. Girdler. Ron died suddenly and peacefully in his
home at Durham, aged 71. He had been active until the end, appearing
for the weekly seminar in this Department only last Monday.
Ron gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1958, supported
by a Shell studentship. He held post-doctoral positions at Columbia
University and then at the University of Durham, UK, where he had been a
member of Grey College since 1960. He was appointed Lecturer in the
School of Physics at the nearby University of Newcastle upon Tyne in
1963, was Deputy Head of Department from 1976-1986, and retired in 1995
with a Personal Chair in Geophysics. He then became an Honorary
Professor at the University of Durham. Ron was a Fellow of the Royal
Astronomical Society and a member of the American Geophysical Union, to
which he was elected a Fellow earlier this year.
Ron's research centred on the geophysics of the Red Sea and the East
African Rift System, for which he acquired an international reputation.
Latterly he developed an interest in meteorite impacts on Earth; through
these and other studies he also developed strong connections in the
United States: at NASA, USGS, University of Texas and elsewhere. He
published over 120 papers, and supervised over 35 PhD students, some of
whom went on to hold Chairs in the UK and abroad.
Ron had many friends, colleagues and colaborators across the world, and
will be sadly missed. Details of the funeral or memorial arrangements
are not yet available.
--
R. C. Searle
Professor of Geophysics and Chairman
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Durham
Durham, DH1 3LE
UK
Phone +44 (0)191 374 2537
Fax +44 (0)191 374 2510
http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dgl0rcs
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