William Alexander (Alex) Deer FRS (26 October 1910 – 8 February 2009) was a distinguished British geologist, petrologist and mineralogist.
[2] On the outbreak of war in 1939, Deer joined the Chemical Warfare Section of the Royal Engineers, and later transferred to the Operations Staff.
Deer returned to the University of Cambridge in 1961, after his election as Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology, succeeding CE Tilley.
[3] Deer was best known for his geological and petrological work in Greenland with Lawrence Wager; and later, for his extensive contributions as editor, along with Robert Andrew Howie and Jack Zussman, of the 11-volume reference work Rock-Forming Minerals and the abridged version, An Introduction to the Rock-Forming Minerals.
[8] They built and stayed in a camp with a three-roomed central house, including a physiological laboratory and mess room, on the Skaergaard Peninsula, at the entrance to Kangerdlugssuak Fjord.
In 1948 Deer led the NE Coast Baffin Land Expedition with Chris Brasher, also of St John's College, to see whether the igneous activity of the Kangerdlugssuaq region of East Greenland and the Disko Island area of West Greenland continued westward into Baffin Island.