Charles Edward Kenneth Mees FRS (26 May 1882 – 15 August 1960) was a British

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

and photographic researcher.

Early life and education

Mees was born in

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, the son of a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

minister. He attended the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

. In 1906 he was awarded his

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

with a dissertation on photographic theory.

Career

From 1906 until 1912, Mees worked for Wratten and Wainwright, Ltd., assisting Frederick Wratten in developing the first

panchromatic Panchromatic emulsion is a type of black-and-white photographic emulsion that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. Description A panchromatic emulsion renders a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye, altho ...

photographic plates, as well as

light filter An optical filter is a device that selectively transmits light of different wavelengths, usually implemented as a glass plane or plastic device in the optical path, which are either dyed in the bulk or have interference coatings. The optic ...

s and safelights for the darkroom. In 1912,

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Company acquired Wratten and Wainwright because they were interested in the skills Mees provided.

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman ...

convinced Mees to move to

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States, where Mees created the Kodak Research Laboratories, becoming its first director. Mees helped the US military in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in its instruction of photography. After the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

, Mees became an American citizen so that he could have access to high security war projects and information during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Later, he was named vice president in charge of Research and Development for Eastman Kodak; he remained at that position until he retired in 1955. During his career, he published 100 scientific papers and 60 other works. Among his accomplishments was the development of sensitive photographic emulsions for use in

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

. Mees served as the first president of the board of trustees of

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

from 1947 until 1954. He died suddenly in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

in 1960.

Personal life

He married in 1909 Alice Crisp, and together they raised two children: Graham (1910) and Doris (1912). They were married for 45 years. In 1951 he suffered a massive thrombosis in one leg and lost it to amputation. Despite that, he became adept at using an artificial limb and even managed to drive his own car.

Selected works

* C.E. Kenneth Mees, ''An Atlas of Absorption Spectra'', 1909. * C.E. Kenneth Mees, ''The Photography of Colored Objects'', 1909. * C.E. Kenneth Mees, F. M. Hamer and L. G. S. Brooker. ''Recent advances in sensitizers for the photography of the infrared''. J. Opt. Soc. Am., 23:216., 1933 *C.E. Kenneth Mees, ''Photography'', Macmillan Co., New York, 1942. * C.E. Kenneth Mees,
The Theory of the Photographic Process
', Macmillan Co., New York, 1942. * C.E. Kenneth Mees & S. Sheppard, ''Investigations on the Theory of the Photographic Process''. * C.E. Kenneth Mees, ''The Path of Science'', J. Wiley & sons, inc., 1946. * C.E. Kenneth Mees and John A. Leermakers, ''The Organization of Industrial Scientific Research'', McGraw-Hill, 1950. * C.E. Kenneth Mees, ''From dry plates to Ektachrome film: a story of photographic research'', Ziff-Davis Pub. Co., 1961.

Awards and honors

* Progress Medal, Royal Photographic Society, Great Britain, 1912 and 1952 * Hurter and Driffield Medal, 1924 *

Henry Draper Medal The Henry Draper Medal is awarded every 4 years by the United States National Academy of Sciences "for investigations in astronomical physics". Named after Henry Draper, the medal is awarded with a gift of USD $15,000. The medal was established ...

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

, 1936. * Progress Medal, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, 1936 *

Franklin Medal The Franklin Medal was a science award presented from 1915 until 1997 by the Franklin Institute located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. It was founded in 1914 by Samuel Insull. The Franklin Medal was the most prestigious of the various awar ...

, 1954 * Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society * Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, 1939 * Inductee, International Photography Hall of Fame, 1972

Legacy

* The C.E.K. Mees Award is the highest research honor given by Kodak. * The C.E.K. Mees Medal, awarded in odd-numbered years by the

Optical Society of America Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

, is named after him and was endowed by the Mees family. * The

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of ...

's C.E.K. Mees Observatory is named after him. * The crater Mees on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named after him. * Mees Solar Observatory on the summit of Haleakala is named after him.

References

External links

Dr. C.E. Kenneth Mees (1882–1960)
at iphf.org
Historically speaking - tribute to C.E. Kenneth Mees, scientist and photographer, and former VP at Eastman Kodak

Mees' role in history of infrared photography development and Kodachrome
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mees, Kenneth 1882 births 1960 deaths British physicists Color scientists People from Wellingborough Fellows of the Royal Society George Eastman House people Kodak people