Jing ChenAlan Hawkes on the Bay campus of Swansea University (UK), looking out to the lighthouse afar It is approaching a year since Professor Alan G. Hawkes passed away on 9 November, 2023 and there is no better time than now to look at his remarkble life, especially his academic excellence and contribution. In this short tribute, I will touch on his early academic journey, the official academic years that forms the first peak period of his academic achievement, and his retired days that brought the second climax of his academic career.Academic scholars always say "once an academics, always academics" and this is so true in Alan's life. Alan had a fast-track academic career, due to his distinctive talent, dedication and great quality of collaborating with people. He started lecturing in UCL before completing his doctoral study on "Stochastic Problems in Traffic Flow" with Maurice Stevenson Bartlett in 1965. He took the Reader position in Durham in 1969 and moved to Swansea University Editorial to the Special Issue on "The Hawkes Process: Theory, Methodology, Algorithms, Extension, and Applications in Environmental Sciences" at JABES.