Robert McCredie May OM AC PhD (1936 - 2020)

Born 8 Jan 1936 in Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Died 28 Apr 2020 at age 84 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Robert May OM AC PhD is Notable.

Robert May OM AC PhD was born in New South Wales, Australia

Robert May OM AC PhD has Irish ancestors.

Robert May OM AC PhD has Scottish Ancestors.

Professor Sir Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, OM AC PhD BSc FRS HonFREng FAA FTSE FRSN HonFAIB was an Australian scientist who was Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, President of the Royal Society, and a professor at both the University of Sydney and Princeton University. He held joint professorships at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London. He was also a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 2001 until his retirement in 2017.

Robert McCredie May was born on 8th January 1936 in Woollahra, in Sydney's inner eastern suburbs, New South Wales, Australia. He was the son of Henry Wilkinson May, an Irish-born lawyer, and Scottish-born Kathleen Mitchell McCredie, who divorced when he was seven years old. He was educated at Sydney Boys High School, Moore Park.

Robert attended the University of Sydney, studying chemical engineering and theoretical physics and graduating in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science (BSc). He received a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in theoretical physics in 1959.

From 1959 to 1961 Robert was the Gordon MacKay Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Harvard University.

Robert married Manhattan-born Judith Feiner in early 1962 in New York. The couple have a daughter, Naomi Felicity (1966-living), from 2001 The Honourable Naomi Felicity May. ^[1]

Robert and Judith moved to Australia shortly afterward for Robert to take up an appointment at the University of Sydney as senior lecturer and reader. From 1969 to 1972, he was professor in theoretical physics at Sydney before 'itchy feet' took them back to the United States.

From 1973 until 1988, Robert was Professor of Zoology at Princeton University, serving as chairman of the University Research Board 1977-88.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, from 1988 until 1995 he held a Royal Society Research Professorship jointly at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, where he became a Fellow of Merton College and a Master of Arts. He was Chief Scientific Adviser to Her Majesty's Government and head of the Office of Science and Technology (1995-2000). From 2000 to 2005 Robert was president of the Royal Society.

Robert was created Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours 1996, ^[2] and appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the Australia Day Honours two years later. ^[3]

In 2001, on the recommendation of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, Robert was created a Life Peer. After his initial preference for 'Baron May of Woollahra' failed an objection from the Protocol Office of the Australian Prime Minister's Department, he chose the style and title 'Baron May of Oxford, of Oxford in the County of Oxfordshire'. ^[4] Judith became entitled as Lady May upon Robert's knighthood and Baroness May of Oxford upon his peerage. ^[1]

He was appointed Member of the Order of Merit (OM) in 2002. ^[5]

Aged 84 years, Robert passed away in a nursing home in Oxford of pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer's disease on 28th April 2020. ^[6]

Although living in England from 1988 and half-Northern Irish and half-Scot, Robert retained his Australian citizenship and regarded himself as Australian.

Honours and awards

• Knight Bachelor, 1996
• Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), 1998
• Life Peerage (Baron May of Oxford), 2001
• Member of the Order of Merit (OM), 2002

• Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), 1979
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1977
• Corresponding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), 1991
• Foreign Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, 1992
• Member of the Academia Europaea, 1994
• Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (FTSE), 2001
• Member of the American Philosophical Society, 2001
• Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (HonFREng), 2005
• Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building (HonFAIB), 2009
• Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales (FRSN), 2010

• Weldon Memorial Prize, University of Oxford, 1980
• Medal of the Linnean Society of London, 1991
• Marsh Christian Prize, 1992
• Frink Medal, Zoological Society of London, 1995
• Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Crafoord Foundation, 1996
• Balzan Prize, International Balzan Prize Foundation, 1998
• Copley Medal, Royal Society, 2007
• Lord Lewis Prize, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2008

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} The Peerage; accessed 12 Oct 2023
2. ↑ London Gazette, 29 Dec 1995; accessed 12 Oct 2023
3. ↑ Australian Honours: AC; accessed 12 Oct 2023
4. ↑ London Gazette, 23 Jul 2001; accessed 12 Oct 2023
5. ↑ London Gazette, 8 Nov 2002; accessed 12 Oct 2023
6. ↑ 'Robert May, former UK chief scientist and chaos theory pioneer, dies aged 84'. The Guardian, 30 Apr 2020; accessed 12 Oct 2023

See also

• The Peerage: Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford; accessed 12 Oct 2023.
• Wikipedia: Robert May, Baron May of Oxford; accessed 12 Oct 2023.