Tributes have been paid to two of Britain�s leading academics who died in a car crash at the weekend. Professor Donald Michie, 83, and Dame Anne McLaren, 80, had glittering careers in their respective fields.

Tributes have been paid to two of Britain's leading academics who died in a car crash at the weekend.

Professor Donald Michie, 83, and Dame Anne McLaren, 80, had glittering careers in their respective fields, including lengthy spells at the University of Edinburgh.

Although the couple were divorced in 1959 they remained close and still shared a home together in London.

They were returning there from Cambridge on Saturday when their car left the M11.

Professor Michie was a researcher in artificial intelligence and it is only recently that his wartime work as part of the code-breaking group at Bletchley Park was declassified and recognised.

Dr McLaren was a leading geneticist who became the first female officer of the Royal Society, holding the post as the organisation's foreign secretary from 1991-96.

She was a member of the Warnock Commission that advised on ethical issues on the use of genetics and she was made a DBE in 1993.

Despite their elderly years, they both remained active, travelling the world to speak at major conferences.

Their son Jonathan Michie said yesterday: "This is a tragic event, especially since Donald was preparing a major lecture to be delivered at the University of Edinburgh.

"The one consolation in the case of Anne is that her 80th birthday this year had been widely celebrated and honoured by both her Cambridge institute and both her Cambridge colleges."

Commenting on Professor Michie's passing, Professor Michael Fourman, head of the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, said: "He was one of the early leading proponents of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

"Donald was the founder of both the Experimental programming Unit and the Department of Machine Intelligence at Edinburgh in the 1960s.

"Many of us were fortunate to hear his illuminating talk at the recent Edinburgh Computer History reunion and we were looking forward to future visits.

"He will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with with his family at this time."