Remembering Professor Mark Warner ’65

On Wednesday 26 January, the School flag was at half-mast to recognise the passing of Professor Mark Warner ’65 on Friday 24 December 2021 in the United Kingdom.

Professor Warner was Head Prefect in 1969, Captain of Swimming, the Auckland Secondary Schools 55 yards Freestyle champion, winner of the Hayes prize for Chemistry and Physics, the Martin Sullivan prize for Public Speaking, and was awarded the Fogerty Scholarship, University Entrance Scholarship, and the Rope Cup as best all-round boy in 1969.

He earned a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Imperial College, London, as well as a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Natural Sciences from Corpus Christi College at the University of Cambridge. He was a Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Theory of Condensed Matter at Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.

Professor Warner was one of the founders of the field of liquid crystalline solids. For this work, he received a Maxwell Medal and Prize and a von Humboldt Research Prize. In 2003, Professor Warner was awarded the Agilent Technology Europhysics Prize by the European Physical Society. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a Fellow of the Royal Society, London.

Professor Warner was a proud Old Boy, and a member of the UK Friends of Grammar Board of Trustees. We extended his support to students who were members of the biannual Western Heritage Tours, by leading tours of Corpus Christi College and the wider campus and providing access to the Parker Library, which housed rare manuscripts and codices collected by Archbishop Parker for Elisabeth I.

The School’s sympathies have been extended to his brother, retired 25 year master Mr John Warner and family members. The flag on the main block will remain at half-mast for the day.