Dr George Adam Reay

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 CBE (1901–1971) was a 20th-century Scottish biochemist and fish technologist who helped set up the

Torry Research Station The Central Science Laboratory (CSL) was an executive agency of the UK government branch, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). It is now part of the Food and Environment Research Agency, which is in turn part of DEFRA. ...

and served as its first director.

Life

He was born in Aberdeen on 31 May 1901 the son of Adam Reay, an engineer, and his wife Helen Glass Cownie. The family lived at 6 Ferryhill Terrace. He was educated at

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational Independent school (UK) for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th century ...

then studied Science at Aberdeen University graduating MA in 1921 and a further BSc in 1923. He then did postgraduate studies at Cambridge University gaining a doctorate (PhD) in 1927. After this he joined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Aberdeen under Sir William Bate Hardy, and was with them when they set up the

in 1929, being posted as its first Officer in Charge and in 1937 being given the title ''director''. He worked to investigate improved methods of handling white fish catches at sea, and was one of the first to emphasise the importance of storing fish at low temperatures and of quick freezing, leading to the technique of freezing freshly caught fish at sea which gained commercial acceptance from the early 1960s onwards. In 1955 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 Sir Edmund Hirst,

Donald McArthur Prof Donald Neil McArthur FRSE FRIC (1892-1965) was a 20th-century Scottish chemist who served as the Director of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Science from 1948 to 1958. Life He was born in Glasgow on 2 August 1892 the son of Donald McArthur ...

John Barclay Tait Dr John Barclay Tait FRSE (1900–1973) was a 20th-century British hydrographist. From 1962 to 1965 he was Deputy Director of the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen linked to the Fishery Board for Scotland. He was an expert in the hydrography of t ...

Cyril Lucas Sir Cyril Edward Lucas (30 July 1909 – 14 January 2002) was a British marine biologist. He was Director of Fisheries Research in Scotland for 22 years. He was an expert on plankton and helped to develop the Continuous Plankton Recorder in 1931. ...

and

Thomas Phemister Prof Thomas Crawford Phemister FRSE FGS (1902–1982) was a 20th-century Scottish geologist. Life He was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 25 May 1902 the son of John Clark Phemister (b.1858) and his wife, Elizabeth Galbraith Crawford. He was the ...

. He retired in 1964 and died, following a short illness, in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on 20 January 1971. He is buried at Dunnottar churchyard near Stonehaven.

Publications

*''The Handling and Storage of White Fish at Sea'' (1929)

Family

He was married to Tina Mary Margaret Shewan (1900–1980) in 1928. They had two children.

References

1901 births 1971 deaths People from Aberdeen People educated at Robert Gordon's College Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Scottish biochemists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-scientist-stub