Abstract
AT a graduation ceremony held on October 6 in the Old Parliament Hall of the University of St. Andrews, and presided over by Sir James Irvine, principal and vice-chancellor of the University, the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred, amongst others, upon Emeritus Professor Alexander McKenzie, professor of chemistry in University College, Dundee, from 1914 until 1938. In presenting him for the degree, Prof. John Read, the present occupier of the chair of chemistry at St. Andrews, said that McKenzie, when he was appointed to the chair of chemistry in University College, Dundee, in 1914, was already well known as a distinguished graduate of the University of St. Andrews, with a brilliant record of original research, begun with Purdie at St. Andrews, continued with Marckwald at Berlin, and extended independently in London and Birmingham. His later researches, together with those of his many collaborators, published during his twenty-four years at Dundee, are familiar to chemists all over the world; for he was a skilful chemist and philosophic thinker of international renown, who has brought light into many of the dark places of stereochemistry. His pioneering researches with the Grignard reagent; his work on asymmetric synthesis and on the migration of organic radicals; his isolation of optically active benzoin: these, and other achievements, are characterized by a subtle elegance and a rare combination of fastidiousness and delicacy. In attacking the refined secrets of the organic molecule, he discards the ponderous weapons of men of grosser mould for the light rapier of the “chymicall Artist”. By his brilliant and untiring investigations, McKenzie has brought renown to his university and his college; by his stimulating teaching he has inspired successive generations of his students; by his wise counsel he has aided his colleagues of Court, Senatus, and Faculty; and by his gifts of sympathy, kindliness, and understanding he has gained the esteem and affection of all.
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Prof. A. McKenzie, F.R.S.. Nature 144, 660 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144660c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144660c0