Professor Emeritus Don Hawkes, Head of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, has sadly passed away aged 90. One of life's great explorers, Don started a life of travel and adventure mapping the Arctic as an undergraduate at the University of Exeter.
Left: Donald Hawkes. Image courtesy of Jane Edwards.
Antarctic adventures
After mapping the Arctic, a trip to the Antarctic soon followed. Making national news, Don’s ship, the RRS Shackleton, was holed in two places by an iceberg. Perilously close to sinking, boats were lowered into the icy waters. In their fight to keep the Shackleton afloat, Don and the crew threw 15 tonnes of supplies and 25 tonnes of shingle ballast overboard. A whaler was the first to respond to the Mayday and watched over the Shackleton until the naval patrol vessel, HMS Protector, was able to take the scientists off the stricken vessel.
This experience did not deter Don from the Antarctic. He returned several times over his career, mapping and naming a large tidewater glacier and supervising student research.
Rainforest research
In 1958, Don married his childhood sweetheart, Janet. Appointed at age 25 as a Senior Government Officer, Geology by the Colonial Office, Janet joined Don on his next adventure to British Guiana mapping the Guyanese rainforest for the British Geological Survey. The basic equipment provided included a machete for cutting through the jungle, a shotgun, and ammunition. Taking the advice of a more senior colleague, Don handed his machete and shotgun to his Amerindian guides; Don recalled their expertise in the tropical rainforest as incomparable. He returned briefly from the jungle to be there for the birth of his daughter, Jane. Heading back to his mapping after just a week, he discovered uncharted rapids in the Tumatumari-Kopinang Intrusion and named them after his newborn daughter.
After completing his PhD, the family's next destination was Sierra Leone, where Don was chosen by UNESCO to join the world's most advanced undersea survey ship, the US Discoverer, charting the ocean floor off the coast of Sierra Leone.
In 1970, he became the first Professor of Geology at Fourah Bay College University, Sierra Leone. His was amongst the first Geology departments to be given a piece of lunar rock for analysis. In 1967, he published a theory on magma layering, which was dismissed for years but has since gained credence and is now widely quoted.
Returning to the UK at the age of 38, Don was responsible for establishing the first three-year BSc course in Geology at Aston University. Often controversial, his views on mineral exploitation made national news.
Don always had a great affinity with the sea and wherever he was, including the landlocked Midlands, he had some sort of seaworthy vessel to which he and Janet would retreat when needed. He contributed tide tables to the Arrowsmiths Upper Severn companion guides and created a much-consulted Severn boating website.
Don leaves a daughter, Jane, a son, David, and grandchildren, Gareth, Genevieve, and Dylan. Forever loved and always remembered.