Alexander McKay (geologist)

Alexander McKay (11 April 1841 – 8 July 1917) was a New Zealand geologist. He was born in Carsphairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland on 11 April 1841.[1]

McKay reached New Zealand in 1863 where he spent a number of years prospecting for gold.[2] A meeting with Julius von Haast saw a change of direction in which McKay, largely self-taught, undertook geological mapping and fossil collecting expeditions throughout the islands.

McKay harboured dreams of becoming a commercial photographer. In 1867 he was based on an isolated farm in South Canterbury and in 1868 spent several weeks in Christchurch undertaking training with Edward Wheeler & Co. on wet-plate photography.[2]

In 1872 James Hector appointed him to the Geological Survey of New Zealand.[3] During his geological work McKay took numerous photographs.[2] He invented a telephoto lens and also techniques for taking images of geological collections and fossils.[2]

McKay's greatest achievement was to free New Zealand sciences from the strictures of European-based thinking, developing new theories, of worldwide importance, on block faulting in the evolution of mountain systems.[3] The discipline of neotectonics is largely based upon McKay's observations and theories.[4]

References
  1. Cooper, Roger. "Alexander McKay". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  2. Nathan, Simon (2018). "Alexander McKay: New Zealand's first scientific photographer". Tuhinga. 29: 35–49 – via Te Papa Collections Online.
  3. Cherry Lewis, Simon J. Knell (2009) "The Making of the Geological Society of London", pp350, Geological Society of London. ISBN 1862392773 Retrieved February 2015
  4. D.G. Bishop (2008) The Real McKay, Otago University Press, ISBN 1877372226 Retrieved February 2015


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