Professor Martin Brasier, RIP
It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Professor Martin Brasier. Martin was a very recently retired professor of palaeontology at Oxford University and a long-standing Adjunct Professor (2007-2013) in our department at Memorial where he collaborated and co-supervised students with Duncan McIlroy.
Martin was recently awarded the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London for his contributions to earth science which included overseeing the designation of Fortune Head, on the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland as the stratotype for the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, and a series of highly innovative papers on the Ediacara biota of the Avalon and Burin Peninsula.
Martin was a wonderfully innovative intellectual, who fell in love with both Newfoundland and its palaeontology, which he visited every year for the last ten years. He will be greatly missed in the scientific community, and by many here in Newfoundland.
His recent retirement was marked by a mini-conference in Oxford that can be seen online here (www.palaeocast.com/evolution-and-early-life).
RIP Martin.