OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 24163, 27 June 1940, Page 15

OBITUARY

PROFESSOR A. FOWLER

(Received June 26, 10.5 p.m.) LONDON, June 25.

The death has occurred of Professor Alfred Fowler, the famous astronomist.

Alfred Fowler, eminent authority on astronomy and the physical constitution of heavenly bodies, was born in 1868 and when 14 years of age became a student at the Royal (afterwards Imperial) College of Science, London. Passing the examinations with distinction, he was appointed a demonstrator in a few years and had among his students H. G. Wells and Richard Gregory, who used to annoy him by wrangling over trade unionism and socialism even in those days. Fowler afterwards specialized in astronomy and in 1893 was a member of the British Government expedition sent abroad to observe the solar eclipse. In later years he took part in a number of similar expeditions. Meanwhile he had been appointed professor of astro-physics at the University of London (Imperial College). Fowler devoted all his spare time to research work, making discoveries which brought him many British and foreign distinctions. In 1910 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and for many years he enriched its records with papers on solar and stellar spectra, the spectra of comets and similar subjects. In 1913 the Paris Academy of Sciences awarded him the Valz Prize for his contributions to spectroscopy, in 1915 he received the Royal Astronomical Society’s gold medal, in 1918 the Royal Medal of the Royal Society and in 1920 the Henry Draper gold medal of the National Academy of Sciences. Washington. Bristol University conferred on him the honorary degree of D.Sc. From 1923 Fowler was research professor to the Royal Society. He had served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society and as general secretary of the International Astronomical Union. When in October 1934, he announced that he was retiring from the Imperial College, Sir James Jeans, W. W. Watts, Sir Richard Gregory and other scientists paid tributes to the efficiency with which Fowler had kept the college abreast of every advance in science. MR R. H. McKENZIE The death has occurred in Hamilton of Mi- Robert Hugh McKenzie, aged 71, chairman of directors of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited. Mr McKenzie was the son of the late Captain D. H. McKenzie, a well-known Auckland ship-owner and master mariner, and he was born in Auckland. He first took up farming on the Ascot Estate, Mangere, and 33 years ago he moved to the Mangatawhiri Valley, Pokeno, where he retained his farming interests until his death. Mr McKenzie was elected to the board of directors of the New Zealand Dairy Association in 1914, and five years later, when that company was absorbed by the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company, Limited, on its formation, Mr McKenzie joined the directorate of the new company. He was elected deputy-chairman in 1924 and chairman on the death of the late Mr Dynes Fulton in 1935. He was also chairman of directors of both Amalgamated Dairies, Limited, and Empire Dairies, Limited, and a director of the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company, Limited.