We have received the sad news that Professor Edward Derbyshire passed away and it was announced on 9th July, 2024. With deepest condolences to his family.
Ed was first a Visiting and then Emeritus Professor in the department since taking early retirement from Leicester University in 1990. A leading international authority on Quaternary palaeoenvironmental change and landscape evolution, Ed made substantial contributions throughout his career to the study of loess. In 1977, Ed visited China as part of a Royal Society delegation to establish links with Chinese scientists soon after the Cultural Revolution. It was then that he first encountered the Chinese Loess Plateau and laid the groundwork for future Sino-British collaborations, including our former links Lanzhou University, which saw collaborative research undertaken and several PhD students join us.
Ed was equally known for his distinguished service to science, acting as Secretary General of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA; 1991–95), Chairman of the Scientific Board of the International Geological Correlation Program of UNESCO and IUGS from 1996–2001, Chairman of the Science Program Committee of International Year of Planet Earth for UNESCO/IUGS from 2002-8, and as Secretary of Foreign and External Affairs of the Geological Society of London from 2007-10. Amongst his many honours, he was awarded lifetime membership of INQUA and his work on landsliding was recognized in 2008 by UNESCO and the IUGS when he was awarded the Varnes Medal of the International Consortium on Landslides, followed in 2012 by the James Harrison Outstanding Achievement Award granted by the IUGS.
Ed made contributions to the MSc in Quaternary Science, designing and delivering a course in Quaternary Sedimentology. The prize for the top student on the programme is named in his honour and colleagues may remember Ed and his wife Maryon coming to inaugurate the prize on the occasion of the 2014 London Quaternary Lectures.
Ed was an exceptional scientist and equally dedicated in his service to science, as well as being a very good friend to this Department.
Ed's son, Edward Jr, has written this lovely obituary to Ed and covered his many achievements as a scientist. The breadth of Ed's work is considerable and his role as a leader in many initiatives is remarkable. Even for colleagues who have never met Ed it will be a fascinating read and a great tribute.
