A former Oxford don has reportedly been trampled to death by a herd of cows in a field near a village church.
Professor Brian Bellhouse was named in reports as the 80-year-old victim of the incident in Guestling, near Hastings, East Sussex.
Police and paramedics battled to save his life, but he was pronounced dead at the scene on Monday morning.
A spokesman for Sussex Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious and had been passed to the coroner's office.
"An 80-year-old man died after being found trampled in a field of cattle at Church Lane, Guestling, on Monday 12 June," said the spokesman.
"Police and paramedics performed CPR after being called at 11.02am and an air ambulance landed at the scene, but he was sadly pronounced dead at 11.46am."
The University of Oxford's Magdalen College paid tribute to the former academic, who came there in 1957 to read for a degree in mathematics.
"The college is very sad to announce that Professor Brian Bellhouse has passed away at the age of 80," a spokesman said.
"He obtained his DPhil in Engineering Science in 1964 and was then made a Fellow by Examination. He was elected an Official Fellow in Engineering Science in 1966. On his retirement in 2004 he was elected an Emeritus Fellow.
"Brian co-founded the company PowderJect in 1993 which became one of the first companies to be spun-out successfully from the University of Oxford and was based at our Oxford Science Park.
"Brian was a major donor to the college and endowed the Oxford-Bellhouse Graduate Scholarship at Magdalen in biomedical engineering."