A former University Of Leeds lecturer has died after falling fifty feet whilst hiking in the US.

Professor Alexei Likhtman was pronounced dead at 12:00pm local time on Sunday after paramedics were unable to save him.

He left Leeds University in 2007 after eight years of working as a lecturer and was most recently working at Reading University as a Professor of Mathematical Physics.

It is reported that he was photographing the area around The Appalachian Trail, a 2,200-mile hiking trail which stretches from the US State of Maine to Georgia, when he tripped and fell whilst jumping over rocks. He had been in the US to attend a conference in Baltimore, Maryland and had been visiting the Trail with a PhD student, Jian Zhu, who was not injured in the event.

Mr Likhtman’s family have paid tribute, saying: ‘Alexei was the best husband, father, son and friend anyone could have wished for. He was a kind, tender, caring, loyal and reliable person. He was generous, supportive and wise in every life situation’.

‘We were all hugely proud of his achievements as a scientist, but will remember him most as a deeply loving and happy person who lived life to the full’.

(Image: Facebook)

Luke Maunsell