OBITUARY

John Lovering died on 04/01/2023.

Professor John Lovering was elected as a Fellow of the Academy in 1993 for his achievements as a geologist. He was a valued member of ATSE’s Climate Change and Water Forums.

Professor Lovering became a Senior Fellow in Geophysics and Geochemistry at the ANU between 1964 and 1969. During this period, his distinguished career began with notable areas of study in meteorites, moon rock composition and Antarctic research. Today, ANU offers the ‘John and Kerry Lovering Scholarship’ to Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) students to support a domestic student undertaking a Master of Earth Sciences (Advanced) program.

Professor Lovering was one of the first to analyse moon rock samples from Apollo 11. He was quoted as joking that he was disappointed that they were not dissimilar to basalt samples on Earth’s surface.

Professor Lovering was the loving husband of Kerry for 68 years, the loving father of Erin, Matthew and Adam and their partners David, Liz and Megan, and the loving granddad of Alex, Eleanor and Amy. He will be missed by all who knew him.

Professor John Lovering's achievements are in two parts.
a) Professional geologist with industrial experience in Australian Oil and Gas, Selection Trust, BHP Research Labs., Western Mining. He is co-founder and Chairman of Geotrack International, a very successful technical service company with multi million dollar business overseas with oil exploration companies, using apatite fission tracks to give temperaLure/Lime history of rocks. He is also Chairman of Comlabs, a major mining analytical service laboratory.
b) Various academic lecturing appointments led him from 1969 to 1987 to be Professor of Geology, then Chairman of School of Earth Sciences at Melbourne University, and in 1985 to be Deputy Vice Chancellor. From 1987 to present he has been Professor Geology and Vice Chancellor of the Flinders University of South Australia.

Along with each of these career paths, Professor Lovering has been a prodigious worker in professional associations, Government appointments and national affairs of universities.