He was the leader of the United Kingdom's efforts in a long-term collaboration with Italy to study the evolution of Mount Etna and, for the first time in over 100 years, make a geological map of it.
[1] In 1984, he was asked by the government of the United Kingdom to assess the volcanic threat to the British military personnel at a NATO base in Sicily.
In 1980, he founded the first NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility outside of the U.S.A. at UCL where he taught many leading international scientists including Rosaly Lopes, Chris Kilburn and Ben Bussey.
[4] As a story-teller, educator and colleague, he was much-loved, supportive, inspirational to generations of students and considered his role more as a vocation than a job.
His fast thinking and remarkable skills of magnanimity were greatly admired: he would address the nub of a problem quickly and thus had a very influential effect in discussions, debates, decision-making and project planning.