Donald John Wiseman 1918–2010

Donald Wiseman, a leading assyriologist, had a distinguished service in the RAF during the Second World War under Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park and later in the Mediterranean as Chief Intelligence Officer. After time working at the British Museum on thousands of cuneiform tablets and as a member of Mallowan's team excavating Nimrud, he took up the Chair of Assyriology at SOAS in 1961. Wiseman, who was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1969, worked to advance archaeological work in the Near East.

Douglas Maurice MacDowell 1931–2010

Douglas Macdowell, one of the most distinguished students of Greek oratory, law and comedy of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, was for 30 years Professor of Greek at Glasgow University. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1993 and was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Obituary by Chris Carey.

Robert Arthur Donkin 1928–2006

Robin Donkin was an exceptional scholar in the field of historical geography, particularly concerning Latin America and the domestication of plants and animals globally. His early research was on the effect of the Cistercians on medieval landscape, and he held posts at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Brimingham. Donkin then lectured in Latin American geography at the University of Cambridge. He was a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 1985. Obituary by Alan R. H. Baker FBA.

Gerald Allan Cohen 1941–2009

Gerald Cohen, known as Jerry, was Chichele Professor of Social and Political Thought at Oxford University and then Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London. He was a Fellow of the British Academy whose book Karl Marx's Theory of History: a Defence won the Isaac Deutcher Memorial Prize. Obituary by Jonathan Wolff.

John Arundel Barnes 1918–2010

John Barnes, an intellectual and a scholar who contributed significantly to the development of theoretical and methodological approaches in both sociology and social anthropology, was a Fellow of the British Academy. Obituary by Alan Barnard.

Maurice FitzGerald Scott 1924–2009

Maurice Scott, an outstanding economics scholar associated for most of his career with Nuffield College Oxford, was involved in the revolution in economic thought of the 1960s and 1970s. His major work, A New View of Economic Growth (1989), was coolly received. Scott, who wrote an autobiography, My Life, and a philosophical study entitled Peter's Journey: A Search for the True Purpose of Life (1998), was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1990. Obituary by Christopher Bliss FBA.

Peter Edward Lionel Russell 1913–2006

Peter Russell was King Alfonso XIII Professor of Spanish Studies at the University of Oxford 1953–81. He was recruited into the secret service in the mid-1930s and was sent to Spain during the Civil War. On returning to Oxford, Russell joined Military Intelligence and among other duties was responsible for seeing that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor reached the Bahamas safely. He resumed his academic career after the war and quickly established himself as a scholar of exceptional range and dynamism. Influential publications included ‘Don Quixote as a funny book’ MLA 64 (1969), 312–26. Russell was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1977. Obituary by Bruce Taylor.

Arthur Thomas Hatto 1910–2010

Arthur Hatto was an outstanding scholar of German studies at the University of London who formulated a theory of epic heroic poetry. He was recruited to work in the cryptographic bureau at the Foreign Office in February 1939 and afterwards worked at Bletchley Park. Later, in order to study epic poetry, Hatto taught himself Russian and Kirghiz. He was elected as a Senior Fellow of the British Academy in 1991. Obituary by John L. Flood.

Simon Frederick Peter Halliday 1946–2010

Fred Halliday was a writer, teacher and public intellectual whose work spanned two closely related fields: the post-colonial societies of the Middle East; and international relations. His first major book, published in 1974, was Arabia without Sultans, although he gained a wider readership with Threat from the East?, published in paperback in 1982. In 1975, Halliday was appointed as Fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam and then, in 1983, he moved to the London School of Economics. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002. Obituary by Adam Roberts FBA.

Frank William Walbank 1909–2008

Frank Walbank, a scholar of ancient Greek history best known for his commentary on Polybios, held the Chair of Latin at Liverpool University and was active in university administration. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1953. Obituary by John Davies FBA.