Slesser, Malcolm 1926-2007 (Charles George Malcolm Slesser)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 30, 1926, in Aberdeen, Scotland; died June 28, 2007. Mountaineer, explorer, chemist, engineer, consultant, educator, and author. Slesser was criticized by his scientific colleagues in the 1970s, when he predicted that the earth's natural resources were not infinitely renewable and could be exhausted by overuse and abuse. Today he is seen by some as a prophet, and his research on linking energy with resources on a global scale has been described by others as groundbreaking. Slesser learned his lessons in the classroom, on the job, and among the peaks at the top of the world. He earned his chemical engineering degree at the University of Edinburgh and worked in the chemical industry for a number of years. He taught at the University of Strathclyde for another ten years of so. Afterward he worked as a consultant engineer all over the world. All of these activities supported his lifelong avocations of mountain climbing and wilderness exploration. Slesser participated in climbing expeditions in Greenland in the 1950s and 1960s, and he lived among the Native people of the Arctic. He attempted to travel by boat from Norway to Greenland and enjoyed sailing in the Hebrides. According to his colleagues, none of his adventures were motivated by a desire for fame or profit. Slesser did, however, attract international attention when he was the coleader of an expedition to climb in the treacherous Pamirs of Central Asia, then part of the Soviet Union, in 1962; it was an ill-fated trip that cost the lives of two fellow climbers. Slesser documented the events of that climb in his book Red Peak: A Personal Account of the British-Soviet Pamir Expedition, 1962. During and after a brief teaching appointment at the University of Brazil in the 1960s, Slesser climbed in the Peruvian Andes and wrote The Andes Are Prickly: Travels in Peru with the Scottish Andean Expedition. His final memoir, With Friends in High Places: An Anatomy of Those Who Take to the Hills, was published in 2006. Slesser's other writings focused on his concern for natural resources and the environment. These include the books The Politics of Environment: Including a Guide to Scottish Thought and Action (1972), Energy in the Economy (1978), and, with Chris Lewis, Biological Energy Resources. Slesser's contributions to mountaineering and exploration were recognized by several awards, including the Polar Medal of Great Britain, the Soviet Ministry of Sport Medal, and the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Slesser, Malcolm, Red Peak: A Personal Account of the British-Soviet Pamir Expedition, 1962, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1964.

Slesser, Malcolm, The Andes Are Prickly: Travels in Peru with the Scottish Andean Expedition, Victor Gollancz (London, England), 1966.

Slesser, Malcolm, With Friends in High Places: An Anatomy of Those Who Take to the Hills, Mainstream Publishing (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), July 25, 2007, p. 53.