https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/24/nigel-hawkes-obituary

Robin McKie Sun 24 Oct 2021

Nigel Hawkes, former foreign editor and diplomatic editor of the Observer, has died at the age of 78. A highly experienced, courteous and unflappable journalist, he helped guide the paper through the stormy diplomatic waters that often threatened to swamp the Observer, then owned by Tiny Rowland, in the 70s and 80s.

Born in 1943 and educated at Oxford, where he studied metallurgy, Hawkes was, first and foremost, a science journalist. He began work at the now defunct Science Journal before moving to Nature. In 1972, and was appointed science correspondent of the Observer and held this post, with distinction, for a decade.

In 1982, Hawkes was promoted to foreign editor and I was appointed as his replacement. I was very fortunate to have him as my mentor. He advised me quietly and skilfully and was an invariably witty pub companion on a Saturday evening after the presses began to roll. It was an honour to know him.

Later, Hawkes was made diplomatic editor, a job that involved him covering the groundbreaking summits – between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev – that heralded the end of the cold war. But the call of science writing proved irresistible and in 1990 he joined the Times, first as science editor and, later, health editor.

After retiring from the Times in 2008, he became director of a pressure group, Straight Statistics, which had been set up to protect statistical information from political distortion. He also wrote columns for the British Medical Journal and was awarded a CBE for services to the newspaper industry and science..

He is survived by his wife, Jo, three children (Georgina, William and Alexander), and nine grandchildren.
__________________________________________

From the Medical Journalists' Association (this one's much longer):

https://mjauk.org/2021/10/26/nigel-hawkes-obituary-a-legend-lost/

Excerpts:

....Wakefield

Nigel was one of the first journalists to cast doubt on Andrew Wakefield’s claims that the MMR vaccine caused autism in children, a bitter reporting controversy that badly needed the astute analysis which he provided in 2010 when the General Medical Council found Wakefield guilty of acting irresponsibly.

Nigel’s piece crisply lamented the lack of beady-eyed scepticism among commentators about claims that still reverberate today. Jeremy Laurance, later Health Editor at The Independent, worked with Nigel at The Times during the 1990s. “I had a golden rule when in doubt about the background to a story: Google Hawkes. His version was always the clearest, best written and best informed. I was by no means alone. He was such a fine writer, above all he was the most elegant which made him a pleasure to read. He was also prepared to deliver a good kicking when needed, an essential quality in all good specialists.”

Evidence-based

For months the nation has been exhorted to follow the science, but Nigel took the lead when giving the brush off to hapless pharma PRs trying to secure column inches, otherwise “thousands would die”. “You’ll have to do a placebo-based double-blind trial to convince me of that. I’m very evidence-based,” he’d say as the phone went down. Sam Lister and other newsroom colleagues compiled a lengthy collection of Nigel’s “coruscatingly entertaining bon mots” which, more often than not, were aimed at newsdesk editors in his own effective form of news management. It was another skill passed on, says Sam and many other health and science journalists grateful for his support when starting out.

“He was a very thoughtful, patient and supportive mentor – helping you build your confidence, offering quiet steers and putting in the biggest challenge when you were attempting to dissuade your editors of a nonsense commission.” John Illman, a member of the MJA Executive Committee echoes this: “My fondest of many fond memories of Nigel is when he joined me at the University of Westminster on an intercalated degree course in medical journalism for medical students. Nigel was a superb, deeply committed teacher and fun to have around.”...

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=578562426&q=%22nigel+hawkes%22+books&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9wL68uKOCAxUbjIkEHQGKDb8Q0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=1920&bih=839&dpr=1
(book covers)

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nigel-hawkes/genetic-engineering/
(Kirkus review of one book on genetic engineering)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/244730.Nigel_Hawkes

WRITINGS:

The Computer Revolution, Dutton, 1971.

Early Scientific Instruments, Abbeville Press, 1981.
Nuclear, Franklin Watts, 1981.
Food and Farming, Franklin Watts, 1982.
Space Shuttle, Gloucester Press, 1982.
Computers: How They Work (picture book), illustrated by Paul Cooper, Elsa Godfrey, and Rob Shone, Franklin Watts, 1983.
Computers in Action (picture book), Franklin Watts, 1983.
Microprocessors, Scribner's, 1984.
Nuclear Power (picture book), Gloucester Press, 1984.
Computers in the Home (picture book), Franklin Watts, 1984.
Robots and Computers (picture book), Franklin Watts, 1984.
Farms (picture book), Silver Burdett (Morristown, NJ), 1985.
Oil (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1985.
Chernobyl: The End of the Nuclear Dream, Vintage, 1986.
Nuclear Safety (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1986.
The Heroin Trail (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1986.
Nuclear Arms Race (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1986.
AIDS (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1987.
Gun Control (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1988.
Toxic Waste and Recycling (picture book), Gloucester Press, 1988, 1991.
Space Shuttles: A New Era? (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1989.

Nuclear Power, Rourke (Vero Beach, FL), 1990.
Safety in the Sky (picture book), illustrated by Ron Hayward Associates, Gloucester Press, 1990.
(Editor) Julie Flint and others, Tearing Down the Curtain: The People's Revolution in Eastern Europe, Hodder & Stoughton (London), 1990.
Glasnost and Perestroika, Rourke, 1990.
Structures: The Way Things Are Built, Macmillan, 1990.
Vehicles, Macmillan, 1991.
Genetic Engineering (picture book), Gloucester Press, 1991.
Into Space (picture book), Gloucester Press, 1992.
Medicine and Health, Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
Communications (picture book), Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
Energy (picture book), Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
Space and Aircraft (picture book), Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
Transportation on Land and Sea (picture book), Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
Structures and Buildings (picture book), Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
(Editor) Federico Mayor and Augusto Forti Science and Power, preface by Ilya Prigogine, UNESCO (Paris, France), 1995.
Mysteries of the Universe, Copper Beech Books (Brookfield, CT), 1995.
The Fantastic Cutaway Book of Spacecraft, illustrated by Alex Pang, Copper Beech Books, 1995.
Amazing Achievements: A Celebration of Human Ingenuity, Thunder Bay Press (San Diego), 1996.
The New Book of Mars (picture book), Copper Beech Books, 1998.
Planes and Other Aircraft (picture book), Copper Beech Books, 1999.
(With Steve Parker and Barbara Tay) Science, Aladdin, 1999.
Ships and Other Seacraft (picture book), Copper Beech Books, 1999.

Climate Crisis, Copper Beech Books, 2000.
New Energy Sources, Copper Beech Books, 2000.
Genetically Modified Foods, Copper Beech Books, 2000.