Bradford Washburn, pioneering mountaineer, photographer and cartographer has died at the age of 96. Washburn was a legend in the world of mountaineering, having completed numerous first ascents of North American peaks. During his time as director of the Boston Museum of Science, he transformed it into one of the world’s most lively, informative and innovative institutions. He was an outstanding surveyor and cartographer, and his maps of the Grand Canyon and the upper reaches of Mount Everest are considered classics. A spellbinding lecturer and communicator through writing and photography, he was a popular figure at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

John Hemming, former director and secretary of the RGS, remembers Washburn keeping an audience enthralled as he performed a laser survey of the lecture theatre. He also recalls Washburn “erecting a huge replica of Everest (digitally cut from polystyrene to an accuracy of a few centimetres) in the garden of Lowther Lodge, with great Everesters such as Hunt, Hillary, Band and Bonington posing in front of it”. Hemming, who is a proud holder of the Bradford Washburn Medal (for scientific communication) from the Boston Museum of Science, said: “Brad was hugely energetic and a total perfectionist, and yet invariably charming, kindly and with a great sense of humour.” Nick Smith