Dstl tribute to Professor Daniel Pope 1973-2024

Dear all,

I am writing to inform you of the terribly sad loss of one of our colleagues and friends.

Professor Dan Pope from Dstl passed away on Monday 13th May. Although Dan had been suffering from an illness for several months, the diagnosis was only received quite recently. Sadly Dan’s illness progressed rapidly and Dan passed away peacefully with his family and friends beside him.

All of our thoughts are with Dan’s Family at this very difficult time.

Dan had a huge number of friends and close colleagues at Dstl and at many national and international partner organisations, across academia, industry and governments. I know many of you will wish to send messages and to know the details of the funeral arrangements, as per Dan’s wishes this will be a small affair. However a celebration of Dan’s life is being planned of which the details can be shared and updated at a dedicated online tribute. https://danpope.muchloved.com/

All those that knew Dan couldn’t help but be aware of his tremendous intellect, drive and professionalism. As a Dstl Fellow, Dan was a true role model and exceptional leader with a passion for helping others develop both technically and personally - never putting limits on anyone’s ability. Dan earned the sincere and enduring respect and admiration of all those he worked alongside. Dan was much more than just a colleague: To many, Dan was also a close and cherished friend.

Dan had a seemingly inexhaustible abundance of energy and was wholeheartedly dedicated to his work at Dstl. Dan’s no-nonsense approach forged new paths in research and capability development and led to Dan making pivotally important contributions to the defence and security of the UK and our allies.

Dan utilised simulation to solve very complex problems - including in areas where experiments would be too destructive and expensive to undertake and where the reliance on Dan’s modelling was therefore absolute. Dan always focused on the future: At the time of his tragic passing, Dan was progressing the introduction of a High Performance Computing facility and making ground-breaking advances to material models for more accurate solutions to the most complex simulation problems.

Alongside Dan’s incredible technical ability he also understood people: He had an incredible ability to read any room he walked in to. This ability helped Dan develop wide collaborative links including with academia. Dan worked with many universities and held visiting academic posts at both Imperial College London and the University of Sheffield concurrently with his role at Dstl.

Dan’s legacy will continue directly to benefit the security and defence of the UK for many decades into the future. Dan’s example will continue to inspire all who were fortunate and privileged to have worked with him. Dan was a truly unique force of nature who will be sorely missed.