David Alexander Brown (8 February 1916 – 3 November 2009) was a geologist who played an important role in developing the study of Geology in Australia. He was born on 8 February 1916 in Scotland. His father fought and died at Gallipoli in World War I. His mother took him to New Zealand when he was four years old. He studied at the

University of New Zealand The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...

and graduated in 1937 with a Master of Science degree. In 1936 he started work in a field geologist job at the

New Zealand Geological Survey GNS Science ( mi, Te Pū Ao), officially registered as the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. It focuses on geology, geophysics (including seismology and volcanology), and nuclear sc ...

. In 1938 he changed jobs, working for the New Zealand Petroleum Exploration Group. When World War II broke out he first joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and then later the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. He took up flying aircraft from aircraft carriers, in the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

. He was posted to the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

and

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

. His highlight was to bomb the

German battleship Tirpitz ''Tirpitz'' was the second of two s built for Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial German Navy, ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Impe ...

in April 1944 in

Altenfjord Altafjord ( en, Alta Fjord;Koop, Gerhard, & Klaus-Peter Schmolke. 2000. ''Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class: Warships of the Kriegsmarine''. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing, p. 55. no, Altafjorden; fkv, Alattionvuono) is a fjord in A ...

a Norwegian fjord while flying a

Fairey Barracuda The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) to be fabricated entirely from metal. The Barracuda ...

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

Operation Tungsten Operation Tungsten was a Second World War Royal Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship ''Tirpitz''. The operation sought to damage or destroy ''Tirpitz'' at her base in Kaafjord in the far north of Norway before she could become ...

. He found his wife Patrica in the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

. After the war they lived in London. Brown was given a post graduate scholarship to study

Bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a ...

(or Polyzoans) from the Tertiary period in New Zealand. His jobs were at the

Imperial College of Science and Technology Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

and the

British Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum ...

. In 1948 he graduated with a PhD and a DIC, and an award of the

Lyell Fund Lyell is a surname of Scotland traced to Radulphus de Insula, 11th-century Lord of Duchal Castle. "De insula" was subsequently translated into the Old French "de l'isle" and developed into a number of variants ( eLyell; eLisle; eLyle; see below ...

from the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1953. He became a world expert on

polyzoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a ...

, and a good

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are give ...

. After this he migrated back to New Zealand and rejoined the New Zealand Geological Survey. The

Otago University , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

recruited him as a lecturer in 1950. In 1959 he accepted at job at the

Canberra University College Canberra University College was a tertiary education institution established in Canberra by the Australian government and the University of Melbourne in 1930. At first it operated in the Telopea Park School premises after hours. Most of the initi ...

as the chair of geology. He set up the geology department, not specialising but employing people with a range of specialities. At various times he was the dean of science,

dean of students Dean is a title employed in academic administrations such as colleges or universities for a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, over a specific area of concern, or both. In the United States and Canada, deans are usua ...

, and he ensured the library had a good range of journals. Brown was the president of the

Geological Society of Australia The Geological Society of Australia (GSA) was established as a non-profit organisation in 1952 to promote, advance and support earth sciences in Australia. The founding Chairperson was Edwin Sherbon Hills. William Rowan Browne was a founder of th ...

. He was skilled at translating Russian to English and wrote a Russian to English dictionary for

geoscience Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four sphere ...

. A bryozoan species from the Schizoporellidae was named after him, ''Dakaria dabrowni''. A mollusc ''Mauidrillia browni'' is named after him. He had three children and nine grandchildren. He died 3 November 2009 in Sydney.

Publications

*''The Tertiary Cheilostomatous Polyzoa of New Zealand'' published Rudolph William Sabbot January 1952, *''Ore Deposits Of Ussr, Vol. 3'' *''The geological evolution of Australia & New Zealand'' 1968 *''Fossil Bryozoa from drill holes on Eniwetok Atoll'' 1964 *''On the polyzoan genus Crepidacantha Levinsen'' 1954 *''Proceedings of Specialists' Meeting held at Canberra, 25–31 May 1968'' *''The Facies of regional metamorphism at high pressures'' 1975 *''Dannevirke Subdivision maps and bulletin'' 1953, Montague Ongley, Albert Mathieson Quennell, David Alexander Brown and Arnold Robert Lillie (mapping from 1936 to 1941) *''Te Aute Subdivision, central Hawkes Bay maps and bulletin'' Jacobus Theodorus Kingma and David Alexander Brown pub 1971 *''Fossil cheilostomatous polyzoa from south-west Victoria'' Melbourne Department of Mines, 1957 *''Deep-seated inclusions in kimberlites and the problem of the composition of the upper mantle'' / by N. V. Sobolev, translation *''A Russian – English Geosciences Dictionary РУССКО – АНГЛИЙСКИЙ СЛОВАРЬ: НАУК О ЗЕМЛЕ'' 2001 Canberra

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, David Alexander 1916 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Australian geologists 20th-century New Zealand geologists British emigrants to New Zealand Paleozoologists 20th-century British zoologists New Zealand military personnel of World War II Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II Fleet Air Arm aviators British World War II bomber pilots New Zealand emigrants to Australia