Prof Douglas McKie
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 ...
FRIC FSA (1896–1967) was a British chemist and science historian. He was a member of the International Academy of the History of Science, the
Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry {{short description, British academic society
The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, founded as the ''Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry'' in 1935, holds biennial meetings and a yearly Graduate Workshop, publishes t ...
, and the
Society of Apothecaries
The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London is one of the livery companies of the City of London. It is one of the largest livery companies (with over 1,600 members in 2012) and ranks 58th in their order of precedence.
The society is a m ...
.
Life
He was born on 15 July 1896 in
Tredegar
Tredegar (pronounced , ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the In ...
in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. 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
The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years.
It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. In ...
and after local education he was sent to the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...
to train as an army officer and follow in his father’s footsteps.
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
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. However, his military career came to an abrupt end in July 1917, when he was severely injured during an attack on the Germans in the early days of the
Battle of Passchendaele
The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...
. After more than a year in hospital he rejoined his regiment in 1919 as part of the occupying forces in Germany.
He resigned his commission in 1920 and instead took up a new career in
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
, studying at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. 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
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
from 1924 and gained his professorship in 1957, teaching the History and Philosophy of Science.
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.
In 1958 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 Herbert Turnbull
Prof Herbert Westren Turnbull FRS FRSE LLD (31 August 1885 – 4 May 1961) was an English mathematician. From 1921 to 1950 he was Regius Professor of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews.
Life
He was born in the Tettenhall district, on ...
, W. P. D. Wightman
Dr William Persehouse Delisle Wightman FRSE (1899–1983) was a 20th-century British philosophical author. He was President of the British Society for the History of Science.
Life
He was born on 4 June 1899 in Streatham Hill in London, the son ...
, Monteath Wright and James Pickering Kendall
James Pickering Kendall FRS FRSE (30 July 1889, in Chobham, Surrey – 14 June 1978, in Edinburgh) was a British chemist.
Life
Kendall was born in Chobham, Surrey to soldier William Henry Kendall of the Royal Horse Artillery, and his second w ...
.
In 1963 he was the recipient of the from the American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...
due to his work on both Joseph Black and Lavoisier.
He retired in 1964 and died in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
on 28 August 1967.
Publications
*''The Discovery of Specific and Latent Heat'' (1935)
*''Thomas Cochrane’s Notes from Dr Black’s Lectures on Chemistry 1767/8'' (1936)
*''Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), When reduced without charcoal, it gave off an air which supported respiration and combustion in an enhanced way. He concluded that this was just a pure form of common air and th ...
: The Father of Modern Chemistry'' (1936)
*''Newton and Chemistry'' (1943)
*''Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), When reduced without charcoal, it gave off an air which supported respiration and combustion in an enhanced way. He concluded that this was just a pure form of common air and th ...
: 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
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in 1957 for his work on Lavoisier.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKie, Douglas
1896 births
1967 deaths
Alumni of the University of London
Academics of the University of London
British science writers
20th-century British historians
British chemists
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
People from Tredegar
Historians of science