It is with both regret and sadness that we advise members of the passing of Richard Lane.
Richard joined Geoscience Australia nearly 20 years ago, in 2001, after a career in mineral exploration and academia and, due to his professional contribution, is now widely recognised throughout the global geophysical community for his keen intellect and insight into geophysical methods in minerals, energy groundwater and hazards.
His role at Geoscience Australia allowed him to share his knowledge widely to improve the science of understanding the potential of Australia’s resources wealth.
His expertise and contributions were wide ranging, including innovations in the airborne electromagnetic technique, 3D inversion and modelling of magnetics and gravity, as well airborne gravity and gravity gradiometry. These fields are now areas of technical strength in Geoscience Australia, with much of this capability due to Richard’s endeavours.
Richard was instrumental in the development of the Geomodeller 3D geological modelling package and in establishing a national rock properties database to inform regional modelling studies. He has organised numerous pertinent and timely geoscientific seminars as well as mentoring many younger scientists and graduates in the application of numerical methods for geoscientific problems.
Richard authored or co-authored numerous scientific publications, and was the recipient of many awards, the most prestigious being the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Gold Medal in 2017 for “exceptional and highly significant distinguished contributions to the science and practice of geophysics by a member, resulting in wide recognition within the geoscientific community“.
Richard made significant contributions to a number of high profile Cooperative Research Centres. Late last year Richard played a leading role in the development of the 6th edition of the National Gravity Grids, incorporating, for the first time, ground, airborne and satellite data. This represented the culmination of one of Richard’s long held visions for integrating gravity data.Richard was a patient, deep thinking, outstanding scientist. He effortlessly juggled multiple domain specialties and was humble about his own achievements. Richard was incredibly generous with his time and knowledge. He would share his insights, knowledge and wisdom openly through mentoring and workshops. Richard will be deeply missed by us all.
Peace and comfort be with you, Richard.
Dr James Johnson
Geoscience Australia
