Douglas McKie
Prof Douglas McKie
Life
He was born on 15 July 1896 in Tredegar in Wales. He was the son of James McKie of Port William in Scotland, and his wife, Janet Moseley. His father was an officer in the South Wales Borderers and after local education he was sent to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to train as an army officer and follow in his father’s footsteps.[1] He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the South Wales Borders in 1916, and joined the troops on the Western Front in Flanders, as part of the
He resigned his commission in 1920 and instead took up a new career in Chemistry, studying at the University of London. He graduated BSc in 1923. He did further post-graduate research, gaining both a PhD and DSc. He was on the staff of the University of London from 1924 and gained his professorship in 1957, teaching the History and Philosophy of Science.[3]
In 1922 McKie married Mary Smith, who had been his wartime nurse. They had one child, Duncan, a mineralogist, who became a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.[1][4]
In 1958 he was elected a Fellow of the
He retired in 1964 and died in London on 28 August 1967.
Publications
- The Discovery of Specific and Latent Heats (with Niels H. de V. Heathcote) (1935)
- Thomas Cochrane’s Notes from Dr Black’s Lectures on Chemistry 1767/8 (1936)
- Antoine Lavoisier: The Father of Modern Chemistry (1936)
- Newton and Chemistry (1943)
- Antoine Lavoisier: Scientist, Economist and Social Reformer (1953)
In 1936 he was co-founder of the journal Annals of Science and he served as its Editor until his death.
The French awarded him Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1957 for his work on Lavoisier.
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34759. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/Dexter%20Papers/McKieDexterBioJJB.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
- .
- ^ "Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry". Division of the History of Chemistry. American Chemical Society. Retrieved 30 April 2015.