David Branagan: ‘amongst Australia’s foremost geologists’

Associate Professor David Branagan, who has died aged 91, was one of Australia’s most distinguished geologists, associated with Sydney University for an unprecedented 74 years.

An award-winning academic, field geologist, science historian, athlete and musician, he taught and mentored generations of students and led international science organisations. The author or editor of almost 300 publications, including 20 books, his biography T.W. Edgeworth David: A Life –Geologist, Adventurer, Soldier was a finalist in the 2007 Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History.

Branagan’s best-known book was Field Geology of New South Wales (with G. H. Packham), published in four editions over fifty years, which was used by countless geology students at Australian universities and high schools.

Over the years he was: President of the Royal Society of NSW, Chairman of the NSW HSC Board of Studies for Science and Chief Examiner for Geology, President of the International Commission for the History of Geology and foundation editor of the Australian Geologist. In recent years, he was awarded the Sue Tyler Friedman Award from the Geological Society of London, and the Tikhomirov Award for the History of Geology.