| Activity | Museum Staff: Appointed Assistant (temporary) Department of Zoology, 1957; higher scientific officer 1964; senior scientific officer 1983; retired 1990 Electron Microscope Unit
Don's first job was as a junior technician at the University College, London and from there he eventually moved to the Natural History Museum where he stayed for the rest of his working life doing scientific research. He retired in 1985. For Don, his life revolved around his work.
Don's first book Scanning Nature was a richly illustrated book containing a selection of images illustrating the beauty and diversity of natural samples as seen under a scanning electron microscope. Don intended these images to inspire more people to take an interest in everyday things, discover what they were made of and how they worked. Don's daughter recalls a story of when she ripped her finger on a sewing machine; Don brought the skin into the Museum for research! There is no doubt that Don was a boffin, a clever academic who wanted to share his research and discoveries with the scientific world. The Electron Microscope Unit in which he worked was, at one time, the largest in Europe and Don published many papers and wrote scientific books and, in his field, was well known all over the world. His research has been credited and acknowledged in many books written by other academics.
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