Michael Ross Burnett was killed in a car accident at Ecuador on October 29th, 1944, at the age of 33.
He entered the Royal School of Mines in 1927, graduating with an Associateship in oil technology in 1931 for eighteen months from October, 1932, he was engaged in gold mining and prospecting in South and East Africa, and in June, 1934, he was appointed oilfield geologist by the British Oil Development Co. in Iraq. A year later he took up a position with Minerals Research Syndicate, Ltd., Nigeria, prospecting and reporting on columbite, and in October, 1936, he was employed as petroleum geologist by the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co.; Ltd., making aerial surveys and photo-geological mapping for oil in Trinidad, Guatemala, and British Honduras.
He joined the staff of The Gulf Exploration Co. (Great Britain), Ltd., in 1940, but in 1942 left to join the Royal Navy. Subsequently he was released from the Navy for special work on petroleum, on which he was engaged at the time of his death.
Mr. Burnett was elected to Associateship of the Institution in 1940.
Vol. 54, Trans I.M.M. 1944-5, p. 260
