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Sir George Deacon
Deep-Sea Research, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. ii to iii, 1985. Pergamon Press Ltd. Printed in Great Britain.
OBITUARY
SIR GEORGE DEACON 1906- 1984 Lifelong application to marine science
SIR GEORGE DEACON, CBE, FRS, who died on 16 November aged 78, was Director of the National Institute of Oceanography from 1949 to 1971, and the doyen of British oceanography. He made his firstscientificreputation with 12 years pre-war service with the Discovery Investigations from 1927 to 1939 m 12 years of research on whales and whaling which included four long voyages to study the temperature and salinitystructures of the Southern Ocean. In ships which lacked much of the gear which modern oceanographers take for granted there was usually discomfort and often danger. But the precision chemical determinations Deacon made arc stillthe basis of knowledge of the anatomy of the Southern Ocean. He was awarded the DSc degree for his now classical Discovery Report and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1944. By then the Admiralty had begun to realisehow littlewas known of sea-waves. Deacon was put in charge of Group W (for Waves) at the Admiralty Research Laboratory. M a n y will recallthe tin hut on the roof and the unpredictability of the individuals that occupied it: in only a year or two they had revitalized the subject by using the then novel method of spectral analysis to interpret instrumental records of sea and swell. Wave research never looked back after that. A major step towards ensuring the post-war development of U.K. Marine Science was taken in 1949 with the formation of the National Instituteof Oceanography. Deacon played a leading part in forming it from a combination of the physicists of Group W and of the biologists of the Discovery Investigations. As the founding director Deacon used his typical unassuming means to forward the work: recruit kccn young researchers, protect them from administrators and encourage them to get on with it. Soon the N I O had acquired an international reputation, not only in wave studies and marine biology but also in ocean circulation, in marine geology and geophysics and indeed in all aspects of modern oceanography. Assiduous in promoting the interests of his own institute, Deacon nevertheless had a dccp feeling for the multi-national nature of marine science. He travelled widely, supported joint cruises and was prominent on many of the committees set up to develop intcrnational cooperation. His counsel was much appreciated at meetings of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research and of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the
Obituary
iii
Ocean, of which he was President from 1960 to 1963. The continued development of the NIO coincided with the surge of interest in marine science all over the world, and Deacon's part in stimulating it was recognized by the award of many honours and medals. To the Polar Medal awarded early in his career were added the Agassiz Gold Medal of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the Albert I Medal of Monaco, the Institute of Navigation Bronze Medal, a much-prized Royal Medal of the Royal Society, the Founders Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Scottish Geographical Medal, as well as the less formal Albatros Award, made by the American Miscellaneous Society to recognize him as an oceanographers' oceanographer. Honorary degrees and Fellowships of societies and academies were conferred upon him: he was created CBE in 1954 and knighted in January 1971. After his formal retirement he continued to work at the Institute (now the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences) and was able to go back to sea in the Southern Ocean - - in the United States Icebreaker Glacier in 1973 (she was icebound and Deacon had to be winched off by helicopter) and in RRS Discovery in 1979, when he was already 73. He continued to add to his 200 or so published papers and was able to handle a newly published copy of his latest book, on Antarctic Oceanography, only a few days before he died. A kind, quiet, modest man, he made things happen by his interest in and encouragement of his young colleagues, and their families, and from a conviction that long-term research was the only sure way to make lasting progress. His wife Elsa, who he married in 1940, died in 1966: their daughter has inherited his interest in the history of oceanography.
© Times Newpapers Ltd. Reproduced with permission.
OBITUARY
SIR GEORGE DEACON 1906- 1984 Lifelong application to marine science
SIR GEORGE DEACON, CBE, FRS, who died on 16 November aged 78, was Director of the National Institute of Oceanography from 1949 to 1971, and the doyen of British oceanography. He made his firstscientificreputation with 12 years pre-war service with the Discovery Investigations from 1927 to 1939 m 12 years of research on whales and whaling which included four long voyages to study the temperature and salinitystructures of the Southern Ocean. In ships which lacked much of the gear which modern oceanographers take for granted there was usually discomfort and often danger. But the precision chemical determinations Deacon made arc stillthe basis of knowledge of the anatomy of the Southern Ocean. He was awarded the DSc degree for his now classical Discovery Report and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1944. By then the Admiralty had begun to realisehow littlewas known of sea-waves. Deacon was put in charge of Group W (for Waves) at the Admiralty Research Laboratory. M a n y will recallthe tin hut on the roof and the unpredictability of the individuals that occupied it: in only a year or two they had revitalized the subject by using the then novel method of spectral analysis to interpret instrumental records of sea and swell. Wave research never looked back after that. A major step towards ensuring the post-war development of U.K. Marine Science was taken in 1949 with the formation of the National Instituteof Oceanography. Deacon played a leading part in forming it from a combination of the physicists of Group W and of the biologists of the Discovery Investigations. As the founding director Deacon used his typical unassuming means to forward the work: recruit kccn young researchers, protect them from administrators and encourage them to get on with it. Soon the N I O had acquired an international reputation, not only in wave studies and marine biology but also in ocean circulation, in marine geology and geophysics and indeed in all aspects of modern oceanography. Assiduous in promoting the interests of his own institute, Deacon nevertheless had a dccp feeling for the multi-national nature of marine science. He travelled widely, supported joint cruises and was prominent on many of the committees set up to develop intcrnational cooperation. His counsel was much appreciated at meetings of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research and of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the
Obituary
iii
Ocean, of which he was President from 1960 to 1963. The continued development of the NIO coincided with the surge of interest in marine science all over the world, and Deacon's part in stimulating it was recognized by the award of many honours and medals. To the Polar Medal awarded early in his career were added the Agassiz Gold Medal of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the Albert I Medal of Monaco, the Institute of Navigation Bronze Medal, a much-prized Royal Medal of the Royal Society, the Founders Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Scottish Geographical Medal, as well as the less formal Albatros Award, made by the American Miscellaneous Society to recognize him as an oceanographers' oceanographer. Honorary degrees and Fellowships of societies and academies were conferred upon him: he was created CBE in 1954 and knighted in January 1971. After his formal retirement he continued to work at the Institute (now the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences) and was able to go back to sea in the Southern Ocean - - in the United States Icebreaker Glacier in 1973 (she was icebound and Deacon had to be winched off by helicopter) and in RRS Discovery in 1979, when he was already 73. He continued to add to his 200 or so published papers and was able to handle a newly published copy of his latest book, on Antarctic Oceanography, only a few days before he died. A kind, quiet, modest man, he made things happen by his interest in and encouragement of his young colleagues, and their families, and from a conviction that long-term research was the only sure way to make lasting progress. His wife Elsa, who he married in 1940, died in 1966: their daughter has inherited his interest in the history of oceanography.
© Times Newpapers Ltd. Reproduced with permission.