Sir Alexander Robertson (3 February 1908 – 5 September 1990) was a Scottish veterinarian and administrator.

Life

Robertson was born on 3 February 1908 in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, the youngest and only surviving child of Barbara Minty Strath and Alexander Robertson, a chauffeur and gardener. He was educated at Mackie Academy in

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at th2022 Census Stonehaven was formerly the county town of Kincardineshire, succeeding the now abandoned town of Kincardine, Aberd ...

. He studied

veterinary science Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...

at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

, graduating with an MA in 1929 and a BSc in 1930. In 1937, he joined the staff of the Dick Vet College in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, as a lecturer in

animal physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

, obtaining a doctorate (PhD) from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1940. From that year he was Professor of Animal Husbandry at the

Dick Vet The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, commonly referred to as the Dick Vet, is the University of Edinburgh's vet school. It is part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. In a joint submission to the latest UK Research ...

. In 1946, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

Alan William Greenwood Alan William Greenwood Order of the British Empire, CBE FRSE (29 June 1897 – 4 May 1981) was an Australian zoologist and geneticist, who helped pave the way to creating Dolly (sheep), Dolly the Sheep. He served as director of the Roslin In ...

, James Ebenezer Wilson, John Russell Greig and Donald Capell Matheson. He served as Vice President of the Society from 1969 to 1972. In 1951, he became Professor of Animal Health at the University of Edinburgh. He became a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in 1963 and was knighted in 1970. In 1971 he received an honorary doctorate (LLD) from the University of Aberdeen. He died in

on 5 September 1990.

Recognition

A plaque to his memory was erected on

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has been the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. The building was constructed for and is on long-term lease fr ...

soon after his death.

Family

In 1936 he married Janet McKinlay (d.1988) and together they had two daughters.

Publications

*''Handbook of Tropical Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosis'' (1982)

References

1908 births 1990 deaths Health professionals from Aberdeen Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Aberdeen British veterinarians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Scottish veterinarians {{Scotland-bio-stub