Prof Alan Wilfrid Cranbrook Menzies

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(pronounced ''MING-iss''; 31 July 1877 – 8 September 1966) was a Scottish-born chemist who later taught at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Life

Menzies was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 31 July 1877, son of Thomas Hunter Menzies, master draper, and Helen Charlotte (née Cranbrook). His name on the birth certificate does not include Cranbrook. He was educated at Daniel Stewart's College and then studied science at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. graduating with MA and BSc in 1898. In 1900 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown FRSE FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildings complex is named after him. Early life and education Crum Brown was born at 4 Bellev ...

, John Gibson, Sir Arthur Mitchell, and Sir John Batty Tuke. In 1910 he emigrated to the United States to take up postgraduate studies at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

where he gained a PhD. Following the retirement of Professor Frank Fanning Jewett in 1912, Menzies was appointed head of chemistry at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

. Two years later he was offered a professorship at

where he taught until he retired in 1945. He married Mary Isabella Dickson on 20 March 1908 at All Saints Church, Edinburgh. They had one child, Elizabeth Grantcranbrook Menzies, born on 24 June 1915, in Princeton; she died there, unmarried, on 12 January 2003. Menzies died in Foothill Acres Nursing Home in

Hillsborough, NJ Hillsborough Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region within the much larger New Yor ...

on 8 September 1966.

Publications

''Several of the publications cited here are with co-authors.'' * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menzies, Alan Wilfrid Cranbrook 1877 births 1966 deaths Scientists from Edinburgh People educated at Stewart's Melville College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Princeton University faculty University of Chicago alumni Scottish emigrants to the United States Oberlin College faculty Academics from Edinburgh