The tragic deaths of two top scientists in a horrific car crash have been described an "immense loss" to Scottish science.
Dr Stewart Rhind and Dr Julian Dawson were passengers in a car when it was involved in a smash with another vehicle on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen road, just after 4pm on Friday.
The scientists, based at the agricultural research centre the James Hutton Institute, in Aberdeen, died at the scene of the accident just north of Fordoun.
Dr Rhind's wife June, and daughters Joanna and Sarah, paid tribute to the 61-year-old and said he left them with a "wealth of wonderful memories".
In a family statement, they said: "Apart from his research work, his passions were his family, fishing, the natural world and bridge."
Dr Rhind, of Westhill, Aberdeenshire, had collaborated with scientific teams in the US and Australia on animal research issues.
Dr Dawson, 42, was a graduate of Aberdeen University and had returned to the city to work for the Hutton Institute three years ago.
His family said: "Julian was a wonderful man. He will be very much missed by his wife, family and friends."
A spokeswoman for the Hutton Institute said: "Both were valued and respected colleagues who will be sorely missed."
Dr Rhind joined the Hill Farming Research Organisation – a predecessor of the Institute – in 1979 and had worked there ever since.
Dr Dawson and Dr Rhind both died from their injuries at the scene.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article