- Source: Alexander McKay (geologist)
Alexander McKay (11 April 1841 – 8 July 1917) was a New Zealand geologist.
Career
Born in Carsphairn, McKay reached New Zealand in 1863 where he spent a number of years prospecting for gold. 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.
In 1872, James Hector appointed him to the Geological Survey of New Zealand. During his geological work McKay took numerous photographs. He invented a telephoto lens and also techniques for taking images of geological collections and fossils.
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. The discipline of neotectonics is largely based upon McKay's observations and theories.
References
External links
Works by or about Alexander McKay at the Internet Archive
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Alexander McKay (geologist)
- Alexander McKay
- Telephoto lens
- Geologists Range
- Harold Wellman
- Meanings of minor-planet names: 5001–6000
- 1917 in New Zealand
- Lists of Canadians
- Meanings of minor-planet names: 8001–9000
- Meanings of minor-planet names: 6001–7000
