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Gordon Hamilton (at right), a University of Maine professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, died Saturday in a field accident while conducting National Science Foundation-supported research in Antarctica. He was 50. A university statement said that Hamilton was working on White Island in the Ross Archipelago, where he had conducted research for several seasons, when the snowmobile he was riding hit a crevasse. The NSF reported that he was killed in a 100-foot fall.
Kelly K. Falkner, director of the Division of Polar Programs at the NSF, issued a statement on Facebook that said in part, "The U.S. Antarctic Program is a close-knit corps of researchers and support personnel who carry out the nation’s program of research in Antarctica, working at the frontiers of human knowledge, but also at the physical frontiers of human experience. The death of one of our colleagues is a tragic reminder of the risks we all face -- no matter how hard we work at mitigating those risks -- in field research."
