Dr. N. Ernest Dorsey, who died at Towson, Maryland, on 6 July 1959 at the age of 86, will be known by name to all scientists who have worked on the properties of ice or water as the author of their standard reference book Properties of ordinary water-substance, a book which, although published twenty years ago, is still the main available reference book for glaciologists who want to find out what is known about some of the less familiar properties of ice. Dr. Dorsey graduated from Johns Hopkins University in his native state of Maryland, and after a short period teaching at that University and a couple of years with the Department of Agriculture, he joined the National Bureau of Standards in 1903, and remained there, apart from a few years of private consulting work in the twenties, until his retirement in 1943. He made many investigations in electricity, heat and light, and also served as an associate editor of the International Critical Tables. Even after retirement he remained active, as several published papers bear witness.