12.07.2015 Views

Download - Communications and Development Department ...

Download - Communications and Development Department ...

Download - Communications and Development Department ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

ObituariesHenderson, Francis (Frank) Martin,Emeritus Professor, BSc/BE(Civil) 1944(Cant), MSc (Vic), b. 28 December 1921,d. 25 August 2006, was internationallyrespected for his work in fluid mechanics<strong>and</strong> water engineering.An outst<strong>and</strong>ing all-rounder at St Bede’sCollege, Henderson gained the highestmarks in New Zeal<strong>and</strong> for the 1938University Scholarship exams <strong>and</strong> was thetop engineering student in New Zeal<strong>and</strong>in his final year of study. After graduating,he was manpowered to the DominionPhysical Laboratories of the then DSIRbefore completing his MSc. He then studiedwater engineering on a scholarship toMassachusetts Institute of Technology.In 1952 he was appointed as senior lecturerin UC’s Civil Engineering <strong>Department</strong>,where he was instrumental in establishingthe fluids laboratory <strong>and</strong> securing theUniversity’s first computer. His expertise influid mechanics led to the first axial-flowjet boat in 1955.In 1964 Henderson was made a fullprofessor <strong>and</strong> head of department, duringwhich time he began writing the fluidmechanics textbook, Open Channel Flow.In 1968 he became head of civil engineeringat the University of Newcastle, Australia,retiring in 1983.Lloyd, David Graham, Emeritus Professor,BSc 1959 (Cant), PhD (Harv), b. 20 June 1937,d. 30 May 2006, was a pre-eminent plantevolutionary biologist whose exceptionalknowledge of New Zeal<strong>and</strong> floratransformed the thinking of plant scientistsaround the world.Professor Spencer Barrett (Universityof Toronto) <strong>and</strong> Dr Lawrence Harder(University of Calgary) credit him asthe founder of the theory of plantreproduction.“Lloyd pioneered the concept of plantgender <strong>and</strong> was the foremost authority ofthe evolution of plant sexual systems.“[His] scholarly work laid the foundation formuch of today’s research on the ecology<strong>and</strong> evolution of flowers, as well as severalother fields of evolutionary biology.”Lloyd was the first graduate of any NewZeal<strong>and</strong> university to gain first classhonours in a BSc Honours degree. He thenstudied at Harvard University on a FrankKnox Fellowship, <strong>and</strong> three years laterwas appointed as a lecturer at CanterburyUniversity, becoming a senior lecturer in1971, a reader in 1975 <strong>and</strong> professor of plantscience in 1986.Emeritus Professor David LloydIn 1992 Lloyd was the seventh residentNew Zeal<strong>and</strong>er to be elected a Fellow ofthe Royal Society of New Zeal<strong>and</strong>, one ofthe world’s oldest <strong>and</strong> most prestigiousscientific societies.Munz, Peter, Emeritus Professor, MA 1944(Cant), PhD (Camb), Hon DLitt (Cant), b.12 May 1921, d. 14 October 2006, fled as arefugee, first from Hitler’s Germany <strong>and</strong>then from Mussolini’s Italy. On arrivalin New Zeal<strong>and</strong> in 1940 he resumed hiseducation at Canterbury UniversityCollege where he was taught by one ofthe 21 st century’s greatest philosophers,Karl Popper, who became his mentor.After graduating MA in 1944 he won ascholarship to Cambridge where he tookhis doctorate before returning to NewZeal<strong>and</strong> because it had, as he said,“nourished him”. Munz taught historyfor 40 years at Victoria University <strong>and</strong>on his retirement in 1986 was made anemeritus professor.One of the country’s most distinguishedhistorians <strong>and</strong> philosophers, Munz washighly regarded for the extraordinarypower <strong>and</strong> breadth of his writing. His13 major books covered the history ofmodern political thought, medievalhistory, the nature of religious belief,myth, the philosophy of history <strong>and</strong>evolutionary epistemology.In 2003, UC recognised Munz’s lifetimeachievements with an honorary Doctorof Letters.Orbell, Margaret, CNZM, BA 1954, MA1956, PhD 1976 (Auck), b. 17 july 1934, d. 31July 2006, was a leading scholar of Mäoriliterature, joining the UC Mäori <strong>Department</strong>in 1976, a year after it was founded.Educated at St Cuthbert’s, Orbell completedan MA in English at Auckl<strong>and</strong> University<strong>and</strong> trained as a primary school teacher.While teaching in Ruatoria she first cameinto contact with Mäori language <strong>and</strong>culture, which inspired her to study Mäoriat Victoria University. While editor for fouryears of the <strong>Department</strong> of Mäori Affairs’periodical, Te Ao Hou, she discoveredthe wealth of largely unpublished Mäorimaterial that lies in archival collectionsaround New Zeal<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> began to edit <strong>and</strong>translate stories <strong>and</strong> waiata for publication.From 1974-5 she taught Mäori studiesin Auckl<strong>and</strong> University’s Anthropology<strong>Department</strong> <strong>and</strong> worked on her PhD,awarded in 1978, which comprisedgroundbreaking research into thethemes <strong>and</strong> images in Mäori waiataaroha (love songs).Orbell’s best known publications areThe Natural World of the Mäori, on Mäoriknowledge of flora <strong>and</strong> fauna, <strong>and</strong> TheIllustrated Encyclopedia of Mäori Myth<strong>and</strong> Legend.Orbell retired in 1994 but continued to write<strong>and</strong> publish. In 2002 she was awarded theCNZM for services to Mäori <strong>and</strong> literature.Ridley, John (Jack) Wallace, QSO, BSc1940, BSc 1941, BE(Civil) 1942 (Cant), MA1947 (Oxf), b. 29 April 1919, d. 23 August2006, possessed an expertise in buildinghydroelectric dams that was invaluable ata time when New Zeal<strong>and</strong> was strugglingwith inadequate electricity supplies.Dux of Timaru Boys’ High School(1937), Ridley won a University NationalScholarship to attend Canterbury UniversityCollege <strong>and</strong> was serving as a secondlieutenant in Italy when he was awarded aRhodes Scholarship.Returning home in 1948, he joined theNew Zeal<strong>and</strong> State Electricity <strong>Department</strong>,subsequently the Ministry of Works,<strong>and</strong> worked on such key projects as theWairakei geothermal power scheme nearTaupo <strong>and</strong> the nearby dams at Atiamuri <strong>and</strong>Whakamaru on the Waikato River. In 1954he was awarded the New Zeal<strong>and</strong> Instituteof Engineers’ Fulton Gold Medal, followedby a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship tostudy dam engineering in the USA. Thisled to his appointment as project managerfor the design <strong>and</strong> construction of theBenmore hydro dam.From 1962-65, Ridley worked in Australiaas the first non-American local head ofUS firm Utah Engineering, then played asignificant role as mining <strong>and</strong> developmentmanager of New Zeal<strong>and</strong> Steel.From 1972 to 1975 he served as Labour MPfor Taupo, regaining the seat as a NationalMP from 1978-81. He undertook consultancywork until 2000 <strong>and</strong> was awarded the QSOfor services to engineering in 1998.46 Canterbury Magazine

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!