Colleagues are sad to announce the recent death of Emeritus Prof. Robert W. Nesbitt (University of Southampton 1980-2001).
Robert (Bob) Nesbitt was at the forefront of scientific developments in petrology, geochemistry and analytical geoscience for forty years. Testament to this legacy is a trail of literature, particularly in the fields of komatiite petrogenesis, mid-ocean ridge magmatism and mineralisation, and high-Mg volcanic systems.
Following 20 years at the University of Adelaide, including fellowships at Manchester, Yale, Toronto and Rennes, Bob was appointed Chair of Geology at Southampton in 1980. He was Head of Geology for 15 years and served as Dean of the Faculty of Science for 3 years extending his convivial and humorous manner into a range of departments across the University. One of his greatest achievements was during the ill-fated attempts of the early 1990s to streamline UK university science. Geology across the UK was the test bed subject for closures, with the review seeing the demise of many famous departments. Through inspired research leadership and political guile, Bob not just ensured the survival of Geology in Southampton, but moved it from a mid-table department towards the current internationally-renowned research centre, with Geology at Southampton currently in the world top 50.
One of Bob’s key skills was an ability to develop, inspire and support a team of doctoral, post-doctoral and academic researchers – many of whom evolved into recognised scientists in their own fields. Across his time in Adelaide and Southampton, Bob wrote a series of papers with Chinese-born Australian geochemist Shen-Su Sun: collectively the highly-cited “Sun & Nesbitt” publications of the late 1970s. Subsequently, he developed strong research links with Japanese scientists, visiting Japan for fieldwork and collaboration over a number of years. Masa Sakuyama became a post-doctoral fellow with Bob in 1981, but their developing collaboration was cut short by Masa’s death while on fieldwork in Iceland. Yoshi Tatsumi worked with Bob on experimental petrology and their study became a benchmark in understanding the genesis of arc volcanoes. Osamu Ishizuka joined the Southampton isotope group in 1999 as a research fellow, initiating a long-standing and productive scientific collaboration running to the present day.
Bob brought the first geoscience-focussed mass spectrometers to Southampton in the mid-1980s. Progressively accruing other thermal and plasma-based instruments through the late 1980s and 1990s, Bob created a geoscience isotope laboratory of international standing. In particular, he made Southampton one of the first ICP-MS facilities in the emerging field of U-Pb geochronology alongside visiting research fellow Takafumi Hirata. In 1999 collaborative industry-EU funding made his Southampton laboratory one of the first in the world to have a collision-cell multi-collector ICP-MS instrument. Through the early 2000s he attracted further EU funding to extend the reach of the Southampton isotope laboratories to a range of European scientists who visited to expand their collaboration and analytical capability.
Following the move to the Waterfront Campus and the National Oceanography Centre in 1997, Bob oversaw the transition from the dated laboratory facilities in Highfield to the brave new world of an international research centre. Acting as a guide through funding shortfalls and reconstruction difficulties his goal was to ensure that science at the “coal-face” kept rolling despite machinations at higher levels. Ultimately, he became joint head of department during the transition and merger to form the School of Ocean and Earth Science in 1999.
Retiring to an Emeritus position in 2001, he continued to enjoy international science, being part of an EU funding assessment panel. At the same time, he was partial to striding across the golf course engaging in characteristic banter with playing partners – in particular defending the performance of his beloved Newcastle United. The department developed a golf tournament named to mark Bob’s retirement. This is now in its 23rd year of competition and hopefully will continue to honour him for many years to come. Bob had enormous energy and enthusiasm for science and people: he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
The funeral will be held on Wednesday 29th May, 2.30pm at Southampton Crematorium, and afterwards at Stoneham Golf Club. If you wish to attend, please contact [email protected], to assist with planning of numbers.