Professor Sir Frederick Warner
Internationally-renowned chemical engineer and Visiting Professor in Biological Sciences at the University, Sir Frederick Warner, has died at the age of 100.

Sir Frederick, who was awarded an honorary degree by the University in 1992, led the first international team into Chernobyl following the nuclear meltdown.

Sir Frederick was first associated with the University’s Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences (now Biological Sciences) in the early 1980s, through his role as Treasurer of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE). He chaired three major SCOPE projects, for which the University of Essex provided administrative support: ENUWAR (Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War), RADPATH (which examined the fallout from the explosion at Chernobyl), and RADTEST (Radiation from Nuclear Test Explosions). These projects resulted in related research at Essex such as work on the optical properties of smoke.

He also played a significant role in establishing the Institute for Environmental Research, the forerunner of the current interdisciplinary Centre for Environment and Society. Sir Frederick donated his papers and correspondence, including those relating to the three SCOPE projects, to the University’s Albert Sloman Library several years ago.

Knighted in 1968 for his services to chemical engineering, Sir Frederick was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1976, and elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering the same year.

He died on 3 July, and leaves his wife Barbara and four children. A service of thanksgiving and celebration of his life will be held at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire on 15 July.