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Richard John Firman BURLEIGH

Obituary

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Richard BURLEIGH Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Mar. 6, 2017.

BURLEIGH Richard John Firman died peacefully on 23rd February 2017, aged 85, at Pinhay House, Lyme Regis. Government scientist and Radio Carbon dater at the British Museum Research Laboratory and Museum of Mankind 1966-1986. In his own words, "he was addicted to Celebrations, jigsaws, walnuts, and, of course, to books (a bibliophile if not a benign bibliomaniac). He belonged to the Private Libraries Association - a 'club' of informed compulsive collectors! Nisi Dominus Frustra forever. RIP". Enquiries to A J Wakely and sons, Lyme Regis.

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Richard Gillespie

March 21, 2017

I first met Richard Burleigh in 1972 when he visited my new radiocarbon laboratory at Sydney University, en route with Roy Switzur to an international radiocarbon conference in New Zealand. Later we collaborated on several projects when I worked at the Oxford laboratory, mainly dealing with bone dating. My memory of his British Museum lab in 1980 has several large glass vacuum dessicators containing large bone pieces slowly decalcifying in dilute acid, and of course the chaotic-but-very-functional glass plumbing used for preparing samples for radiocarbon measurement. Richard also organised a preliminary dating program for use on textiles, such as the Shroud of Turin which was eventually dated some years later by the Oxford, Zurich and Arizona labs.
Richard when I knew him was always well-spoken, polite and witty, well-read and a very good scientist. My condolences to his family, he was an English gentleman without peer.

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