Chris Anthony

It is with very great regret that the University has been informed of the sudden and untimely death of Professor Sir Howard Dalton on Saturday 12th January 2008 in Leamington Spa. Following a D. Phil. at the University of Sussex and postdoctoral work in the USA and Sussex, Sir Howard joined the University of Warwick in 1973 as a lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences. His pioneering work, particularly on methane oxidation brought him international recognition and he was promoted to a personal Chair in 1983. Sir Howard's career brought him countless accolades including election to the Royal Society in 1993, election as President of the Society for General Microbiology from 1997 to 2000 and the award of the Leeuwenhoek Medal lecture of the Royal Society in 2000. Sir Howard was appointed Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 1999 to 2002 when he was seconded to become Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In his position as Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Howard was instrumental in raising the profile of climate change as a significant global threat and delivered many lectures on that, and other important issues of the day, at many international fora. He also led the scientific advisory team to generate the UK contingency plan for dealing with the threat from avian influenza virus. Throughout the period of his appointment at DEFRA Sir Howard maintained strong links with the University, returning every week to run his research group. Sir Howard was knighted in the 2007 New Years Honours list for services to science and returned full time to the University in October 2007. As well as the many positions that Sir Howard held in the University dealing with academic matters he was also instrumental in other areas of University life. In particular, his enthusiasm for, and extensive knowledge of, Japanese gardens resulted in the University creating two such gardens. Sir Howard was an immensely popular member of the University at all levels. His natural good humour and forthright approach garnered many friends both here and elsewhere. Sir Howard is survived by his wife Lady Kira and four children to whom we send our heartfelt wishes for their, and our, sad loss.

From University of Warwick: Farewell

Howard Dalton was one of the most distinguished and influential microbiologists of his generation; his pioneering work on the biology of methane oxidation brought him early international recognition.

He studied the structure, function and regulation of enzymes in bacteria responsible for consuming methane in the environment, which help to mitigate the effects of global warming by this greenhouse gas. He opened up a new area of research into methane monooxygenase and related metal-containing enzymes and was considered to be one of the best scientists worldwide in his field. Dalton was also quick to realise the potential of microbes for the production of chemicals on an industrial scale using biotransformation, which yielded many seminal publications in a career generating more than 250 scientific papers. He was highly respected and popular, and discussing science with him was always immensely rewarding.

Dalton was born in New Malden, Surrey, the son of a lorry driver. He was highly intelligent, with an enquiring mind, and his early interest in science was evident from his many exploits with cocktails of chemicals, which often had explosive consequences. Having survived these early "laboratory" experiments, Dalton was eager to learn more and his mother was extremely proud of him passing the 11-plus and attending Raynes Park Grammar School. After school, Dalton was awarded a place at Queen Elizabeth College, London University, and graduated in 1965 with a BSc in Microbiology.

His research career started when he undertook a DPhil with Professor John Postgate FRS at the ARC Unit of Nitrogen Fixation, Sussex University, where he worked on nitrogen fixation in the soil bacterium Azotobacter. Dalton then worked for two years as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Len Mortensen at Purdue University, Indiana, on the biochemistry of nitrogenase in the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium. It was in the United States that he met his future wife, Kira Rozdestvensky.

Recognising that physico-chemical spectroscopy techniques were going to be of great importance in studying metal-containing enzymes, he returned to Sussex University in 1970 to work with Professor Bob Bray on molybdenum enzymes. Dalton married Kira the following year and they settled in the village of Radford Semele near Leamington Spa when Professor Roger Whittenbury persuaded Dalton to take up a lectureship in Microbiology at the Department of Biological Sciences, Warwick University in 1973. It proved to be the start of a long and illustrious tenure there.

Dalton built up a large research group at Warwick and was awarded a Personal Chair in 1983. His groundbreaking work on enzymes involved in bacterial oxidation of methane, methane monooxygenases, brought him a much-deserved international reputation and opened up a whole new research field in microbiology. He also made extremely important contributions to research into the use of microbes to produce chemicals, which stimulated his great interest in biofuels. He was a down-to-earth, self-effacing man, outgoing and extremely generous of his time with well over 100 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. Above all else, he made science fun and was an inspirational mentor and a much-loved colleague. His penetrating questions and insightful comments always made for lively and stimulating debate.

As his scientific career flourished, he received many accolades, including election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993, appointment as President of the Society for General Micro-biology, 1997-2000, the award of the Leeuwenhoek Medal Lecture at the Royal Society in 2000 and a knighthood in the New Year's Honours list in 2007. He was Chair of Biological Sciences at Warwick, 1999-2002. His enthusiasm and knowledge of Japanese gardens resulted in the creation of two such gardens at the university.

In 2002, Dalton was seconded to become Chief Scientific Adviser to Defra, a role in which he sought to instil scientific rigour into policy making. He led the scientific advisory team generating the UK contingency plan for dealing with avian influenza virus and was instrumental in raising the profile of climate change as a significant threat, delivering lectures on this and other topics such as biofuels and GM crops.

Dalton was a great communicator and wrote an immensely entertaining and popular blog describing his two-week visit to the British Antarctic Survey in 2006 where he observed at first-hand the effects of global warming on icefields in Antarctica. Throughout his time at Defra, Dalton maintained strong links with the university, returning each Friday to look after his research group. He returned full time to Warwick in October last year and had recently delivered lectures on science policy to final-year undergraduates with his usual passion and engaging style.

Dalton had an immense zest for science and life in general and was a fine sportsman in every sense of the word. In his early days at Warwick he was a regular in the Rowington Village cricket side; a fiery fast bowler and very useful left-handed batsman. He was a lifelong Spurs supporter and a highly competitive member of the Biological Sciences football team, aptly named "Biohazard". Another great passion of his was Real Tennis and he was a member of Leamington Real Tennis Club where his competitive spirit and ability won him many tournaments. It was here, while playing in a friendly doubles tournament, that he collapsed and died.

He had just returned from a month in The Gambia assisting his wife Kira in her extensive humanitarian work, setting up new schools and medical centres. He was also lending his considerable expertise to the Gambian government on a number of important environmental issues.

Howard Dalton, microbiologist: born New Malden, Surrey 8 February 1944; staff, Warwick University 1973-2008, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences 1983-2008; FRS 1993; Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2002-07; Kt 2007; married 1971 Kira Rozdestvensky (one son, one daughter, two stepsons); died Leamington Spa, Warwickshire 12 January 2008.

(c) 2008 Independent, The; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

One of the foremost microbiologists of his generation, Sir Howard Dalton was appointed chief scientific adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in March 2002 in the hope that he would bring scientific rigour — and much needed credibility — to the department.

Defra had been created after the perceived failure of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, still tainted by the BSE crisis of a decade earlier, to deal effectively with the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001. Dalton found the BSE crisis particularly disappointing, a case where PR and science had broken down: “There was a real issue over public understanding of the way the science was being used. There was a lot of sensible advice . . . but how it was being picked up and used was another issue.” To some extent Dalton had the same problem: while he made sure to channel the best available advice, often complex and contradictory, to the Government, the policy it shaped was often rather more simplistic.

Dalton was born in New Malden, Surrey, the son of a lorry driver. Showing a precocious talent for science, he won a place at Raynes Park Grammar School and went on to Queen Elizabeth College at London University to read microbiology. He took his doctorate at the University of Sussex. He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow,at Purdue University, Indiana, 1968-70. There, to avoid any possible risk that he might be drafted for Vietnam, he paid the Universal Life Church of California $25 to ordain him. In 1970 he returned to the University of Sussex, where he worked on methane monooxygenase — an enzyme that converts methane gas into methanol.

In 1973 he became a lecturer at the University of Warwick, and continued work on the pathways used by the bacteria around plant roots to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. He studied the metabolism of bacteria growing in unusual positions, using organisms isolated from the hot spring waters of Bath, high in metallic elements and methane. From this developed his interest in biotransformation; in particular, ways of harnessing the power of biological and biochemical pathways and using them in industrial processes. He was appointed Professor of Microbiology in 1983.

At Defra, Dalton ensured that the department had access to a broad pool of virologists and oversaw a forward vaccination centre that could be ready to act three days after an animal health scare. He formulated a policy to cope with bluetongue outbreaks and directed work to find an effective preventive vaccine, although slaughter remained the department’s primary response.

Dalton’s advice was held dear by Tony Blair, who shared his feelings on genetically modified foods. Although Dalton initially felt that the country was being steamrollered into accepting large-scale trials of GM crops without a calm assessment of the impact, he came to see public hostility as a blow to British commercial science, which had been the world leader in this field. Always emphasising that GM crops were never going to be “wholly good nor wholly bad”, he insisted that Britain would one day grow GM crops in a properly controlled environment, and hoped that this could be as early as 2009. In the spring of 2005 Dalton joined Defra’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, which was suffering the fallout of wrangles and resignation over what to do with Britain’s nuclear waste. Again his remit was to apply proper science — and human reasoning — to a deeply divisive and politicised subject.

Dalton was idealistic and had a talent for making complex ideas seem straightforward, but the science he loved to see “presented in a forum in which it is open to challenge” was subject to a government department increasingly sensitive to such challenge. This paradox could never be fully resolved. Dalton’s work for Defra was rarely regarded as pure science by the media or by a public steeped in cynicism after a decade of “spin”. Each successive BSE scare was seized upon, quite unfairly, as evidence that Defra’s science was as flawed as ever, and the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which reached the Netherlands in 2003, required him to advise and reassure the public repeatedly.

This backfired in October 2005 during a technical briefing that concerned a parrot that had died in quarantine. It was assumed to have contracted the virus from some Taiwanese mynah birds, a “working hypothesis” that angered the Taiwan Government. When it transpired that there might be two dead parrots, and that Defra was unsure which had died of H5N1, the episode seemed even more Pythonesque. Neither Dalton nor the Chief Vet, Debby Reynolds, could tell their audience of Conservative front-benchers which clade, or sub-type, of the H5N1 virus family was responsible — an important point since the type deadly to humans had never been found in Taiwan. Such confusion reminded newspapers of the case of Georgina Downs, whose case against the Government for pesticide spraying near her home in Chichester was turned down by the Minister for Rural Affairs after taking advice from Dalton, although Dalton said in August 2004 that Downs’s evidence had never been passed on to him.

Climate change was a perennial theme during his five years at Defra. In January 2006 he went with the British Antarctic Survey to inspect first-hand the effects of climate change on the ice sheets. He concluded that: “There is no doubt on a global level we’re not doing enough to tackle climate change.” He insisted, however, that he was hopeful, and that “science and technology can help us to curb our greenhouse gas emissions and still allow us to live in a modern society”.

Dalton did not go along with all government ideas on the environment and green energy, some of which he regarded as faddist and impractical. When asked about plans for wind turbines, which he had always regarded as too expensive, he said: “Do we really want windmills all over the countryside and covering swaths of the ocean? I don’t think so. They are a hell of a bloody eyesore.” Dalton was unafraid of controversy and, a lifelong believer in the potential of biofuels, gave his backing to David Miliband’s plans, as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for turning over land to fuel crops. This angered other scientists, particularly Professor Roland Clift, the founding director of the Centre for Environmental Strategy, who told a seminar of the Royal Academy of Engineering that the whole idea was a “scam” that would create more greenhouse gases than it removed.

Dalton remained committed to Warwick university for more than 30 years, giving his name to a research group, and to the cause of proper funding for scientific research. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993, and was president of the Society for General Microbiology, 1997-2000. He was awarded the Royal Society Leeuwenhoek medal lecture for 2000, and was knighted in the 2007 New Year’s Honours List.

With his wife, Kira, whom he married in 1971, he was in the process of building a medical centre in The Gambia, and innoculating its children against malaria. The couple had helped to construct six schools in the country.

His great passion was for real tennis, and he died during a game on the courts at Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. He had long-standing arterial problems, and had suffered a heart attack on the courts on his 48th birthday. His wife survives him, along with their son and daughter and two stepsons from his wife’s previous marriage.

Professor Sir Howard Dalton, FRS
Chief scientific adviser, Defra, 2002-07, was born on February 8, 1944. He died on January 12, 2008, aged 63

Professor Howard Dalton FRS              From The Telegraph

Professor Sir Howard Dalton, who died on Saturday aged 63, rose from humble beginnings to become a hugely influential microbiologist with particular expertise in the fields of global warming, bio-fuels and animal disease, such as foot-and-mouth and avian flu.

When he was appointed as Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser to the government in 2002, soon after the catastrophic foot-and-mouth outbreak, he was deeply critical of what he termed "government policy-making led by Sun editorials", and instead instigated a string of commonsense scientific measures which ensured that any further outbreaks of the disease were contained within a small area.

He was not afraid to voice forthright views and, to the consternation of his political masters, was highly critical of government plans to conduct widespread genetically modified crop trials, claiming that the potential environmental impact of these had not been properly thought through.

Howard Dalton was born at New Malden in Surrey on February 8 1944, the son of a lorry driver. An inquisitive, highly intelligent child, he was fascinated by science from an early age and enjoyed staging his own experiments, often with unpredictable results.

He horrified the family when, aged 10, he was mixing a cocktail of chemicals in a dustbin which promptly exploded, though against the odds he and the family escaped unscathed.

In his late teens, shortly before he was due to have a passport photograph taken, a laboratory experiment got out of hand and the blast singed his hair and eyebrows. The evidence of the explosion remained visible on the photo for the next decade.

Dalton also showed early entrepreneurial flair, buying an old-fashioned printing press at the age of 14 and developing a lucrative sideline, producing circulars and wedding and party invitations - particularly popular as he slightly undercut established printing firms in the area. His ambitious mother was the guiding influence of his childhood and she was enormously proud when he passed the 11-plus to gain a place at Raynes Park Grammar School. Despite his father's attempts to make him leave school at 14 to take up a trade like his brother, who became a skilled carpenter, Howard was eager to continue his academic studies. Thanks to his mother's support, he became the first member of his family to go to university when he won a place at Queen Elizabeth's College at London University.

After graduating in Microbiology, he began post-graduate research at the University of Sussex and gained his doctorate in 1968, then moved to Purdue University in Indiana for two years to continue his research into microbes and nitrogen fixation. A lively, outgoing man, he embraced American culture with gusto, frequently hosting convivial gatherings such as Superbowl parties for his colleagues.

He was also active in the anti-Vietnam War protest movement and it was through this that he met his future wife, Kira Rozdestvensky, a Russian-American management consultant.

She advised him that he risked being called up, and suggested an unusual way to avoid the draft - by becoming a priest, one of the categories exempt from military service. Dalton discovered a little-known religious group called the Universal Life Church of California which for $25 would "ordain" anyone.

He duly sent off a cheque and within days was delighted to learn that he was now a bona fide Minister of Religion. It became a running joke and his friends frequently addressed letters to the Reverend Howard Dalton; as a life-long atheist, he particularly relished the irony of his new title.

In 1970 he returned to Sussex; he married Kira the following year, then moved to Warwick University in 1973 to take up a lectureship in Microbiology. The couple lived at Radford Semele near Leamington Spa and Dalton enjoyed intoducing his varied enthusiasms to his new wife.

He was a fanatical Spurs supporter and also loved village cricket, turning out for a variety of local sides as a wayward but explosive fast bowler. Once, representing the nearby village of Rowington against admittedly inferior opposition, he took eight for 15, the highlight of his cricket career.

Kira became increasingly involved in humanitarian work and after a holiday in The Gambia, the couple began to help set up new schools and health centres in remote villages, fund-raising among their friends in Warwickshire.

Apart from lending his scientific expertise on problems of water supply and infrastructure, Dalton also sponsored his own football team of village youngsters, whose side rejoiced in the title Barfut Hotspur, in tribute to his north London heroes.

His academic work flourished and within a decade he was appointed Professor of Microbiology at Warwick, thanks to his ground-breaking work on bio-fuels and on the potential for microbes to benefit the environment.

In his research, Dalton attempted to break down the various chemical pathways that appear in bacteria and then to regenerate them outside the organism so that they could be used for industrial processes.

He studied bacteria growing in extreme conditions -including those found in volcanic geysers and in the hot waters of the natural metallic springs at Bath - and this work led on to further research, exploring ways to convert the harmful gas methane into methanol, which is widely used as a bio-fuel.

A down-to-earth, self-effacing man who never lost touch with his working-class roots, Dalton was renowned for his wicked sense of humour, often at his own expense.

He was a quirky and engaging lecturer, much loved by his students and colleagues, although he could never resist teasing his fellow academics. He was once heard to say: "Anyone who thinks there is any correlation between high intelligence and common sense should listen to the dons at Warwick University discussing car parking allocations."

He was nevertheless deeply gratified by the string of awards and honours he achieved, particularly his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993 and his appointment as President of the Society for General Microbiology four years later.

He was knighted in the 2007 New Year's Honours list, thanks partly to his work as a government scientific adviser for Defra between 2002 and 2007, particularly his expertise on the impact of climate change.

A great believer in popularising science, he made a two-week visit to the British Antarctic Survey for Defra in 2006 and the resultant blog of his experiences attracted as many hits from lay people as from scientists.

After moving to Warwickshire, Dalton became fascinated by Real Tennis and joined the Leamington Real Tennis Club, the only one where women are still banned from membership. He won a string of tournaments and continued competing enthusiastically, despite several heart problems that required by-pass surgery.

He was taken ill on Saturday while taking part in a friendly doubles tournament with three of his closest friends and was chatting with a fellow enthusiast when he collapsed and died almost instantaneously. He had just had a house built in The Gambia, where he was setting up an observatory and viewing positions for his latest hobbies, astronomy and bird-watching, which he had taken up with characteristic thoroughness.

He is survived by his wife Kira, a son and daughter, and by two stepsons from his wife's previous marriage.