Ian Higginbottom 1926-2019
Engineering geologist and one of the founders of the Geological Society's Engineering Group
Ian Higginbottom sadly passed away in August 2019. He was one of the founding fathers of the Engineering Group, at a time when engineering geology and soil mechanics were becoming sciences in their own right. He was enthusiastic about the subject and a great supporter of the next generation.
While Ian may not have been a prolific writer of technical papers, those he did write have become seminal. 2020 is the 50th anniversary of his most famous paper on the engineering aspects of periglacial features in Britain; a must read for anyone practising ground engineering in the south of England (where periglacial features are most commonly preserved) to this day. It is fitting that we celebrate his life at this time. Below are tributes from some of this who were friends and colleagues.
Prof Peter Fookes: I wrote a few papers with Ian but cannot say that I ‘knew him’. I remember him as being a first rate field man and excellent writer of correct English. He edited slowly – with great care – over weeks even months, which may at least, be one reason for his low output of papers in the early years when more or less anything you wrote was new.
He worked for the excellent ‘Wimpey Laboratories’ led by the very knowledgeable Tommy Tomlinson. Ian picked up much ‘soil mechanics’ from him and in turn Ian had several geologists working for him - it can be said they became his disciples.
Geoff Pettifer: Ian was a friend and mentor for many geologists and engineers at Wimpey Laboratories in the 1970s and 1980s, and at an early stage of my career he persuaded the company to sponsor me on an MSc course at Queen Mary College. His experience and interests ranged from the influence of mineralogy and rock fabric on the performance of road and concrete aggregates to the effects of past periglacial conditions and faulting on ground conditions for major construction projects.
He encouraged us to think a problem through comprehensively and, if he did not know the answer, pointed us to the relevant technical paper or expert in another part of the labyrinth. Later in his career, he occasionally logged core samples where disputes had arisen, and his description of 'spangles of specular haematite' resonates to this day. Ian was certainly the best all round geologist I have had the privilege to know.
By Ursula Lawrence
Ian’s publications:
Higginbottom, I. E., & Fookes, P. G. (1970). Engineering aspects of periglacial features in Britain. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 3(2), 85-117.
Higginbottom, I. E. (1971). Superficial structures in reconnaissance and feasibility studies. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 4(4), 307-310.