Sir Francis Gerard McCormac,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

, FSA,

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

FHEA Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

(born 1 August 1958) is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

. He is a physicist whose specialist fields are

space physics Space physics, also known as space plasma physics, is the study of naturally occurring plasmas within Earth's upper atmosphere and the rest of the Solar System. It includes the topics of aeronomy, aurorae, planetary ionospheres and magnetospheres, ...

and

carbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was ...

. He is a member of the advisory board of the International College for Liberal Arts at

Yamanashi Gakuin University Yamanashi Gakuin University (Japanese: 山梨学院大学, ''Yamanashi gakuin daigaku'') (YGU) is a private university in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Yamanashi Gakuin was founded in 1946. Today, it is a comprehensive educational institut ...

in Japan. Previous roles include Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

and Vice-Chairman of

Invest Northern Ireland Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) is Northern Ireland's regional economic development agency. It is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for the Economy (DfE). According to DETI's website, it "supports business growth and ...

. He chaired a review of teacher employment for the Scottish Government in 2011.

Early life

He was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 1 August 1958, the eldest of seven children of Francis McCormac and Jean Heaney. He attended St. Kevin's Primary School on the Falls Road where his P6 teacher inspired him to develop a career in science.

Career

He graduated in Physics and Geology (1980) and obtained a PhD in Physics (1984) from

Ulster Polytechnic Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

, before becoming a post-doctoral research fellow at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. There he conducted research on the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Dynamics Explorer Dynamics Explorer ( DE-1 and DE-2 or Explorer 62 and Explorer 63) was a NASA mission, launched on 3 August 1981, and terminated on 28 February 1991. It consisted of two unmanned satellites, DE-1 and DE-2, whose purpose was to investigate the in ...

satellite program. He specialised in

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

of the atmosphere using

Fabry–Pérot interferometer In optics, a Fabry–Pérot interferometer (FPI) or etalon is an optical cavity made from two parallel reflecting surfaces (i.e.: thin mirrors). Optical waves can pass through the optical cavity only when they are in resonance with it. It is ...

s to measure thermospheric wind speeds and temperatures to assess their relationship to the

Interplanetary Magnetic Field The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), also commonly referred to as the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF), is the component of the solar magnetic field that is dragged out from the solar corona by the solar wind flow to fill the Solar System ...

. Between 1990 and 2001, he was Director of the High-Precision Carbon Dating Facility at

and a lecturer and senior lecturer in Environmental Monitoring. During this period, he founded the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork (CAF) and the Centre for the Climate, Environment and Chronology (Chrono Centre). He was a member of the Archaeology Committee of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

. He carbon dated monuments of international importance for

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

and the Environment and Heritage Service including;

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

, the

Pazyryk burials Pazyryk may refer to: * Pazyryk Valley, a valley of Ukok Plateau, Siberia *The Iron Age Pazyryk burials found there *The wider Pazyryk culture, the archaeological culture associated with the burials {{Disambiguation ...

in Siberia,

Seahenge Seahenge, also known as Holme I, was a prehistoric monument located in the village of Holme-next-the-Sea, near Old Hunstanton in the English county of Norfolk. A timber circle with an upturned tree root in the centre, Seahenge, along wit ...

near Sandringham, the

Dover Bronze Age Boat The Dover Bronze Age boat is one of fewer than 20 Bronze Age boats so far found in Britain. It dates to 1575–1520 BC, which may make it one of the oldest substantially intact ''boat'' in the world (older boat finds are small fragments, some ...

Sutton Hoo Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeology, Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when an undisturbed ship burial containing a wea ...

and New Grange. He became head of the School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology in 1997 and Professor of Scientific Archaeology in 1998. As pro vice-chancellor (PVC) at Queen's from 2001 to 2010, he had responsibility for Academic and Financial Planning, Economic Development and External Affairs. He served on the Northern Ireland (NI) Committee of the Institute of Directors, the NI Economic Development Forum, the NI Science and Industry Panel (MATRIX) and the boards of both the NI Science Park and Business in the Community. He was a director and chair of the management board of Queen's University's commercialisation company, QUBIS. He was vice-chairman and a board member of

from 2008 to 2014. In 2010 he became principal and vice-chancellor at the University of Stirling. He chaired a review of the terms and conditions of teacher employment for the Scottish Government in 2011 and served as an external board member to oversee the merger of the Department of Employment and Learning and the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment to form the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland. He is currently Vice-Convener of Universities Scotland, a board member of the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA) and Chairman of the UCEA Scottish Committee, a member of Universities UK and a trustee of the

Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland is a charitable trust established by Andrew Carnegie in 1901 for the benefit of the universities of Scotland, their students and their staff. The incorporation of the Trust was by royal ch ...

. He was Vice-Chairman of Bridge Integrated Primary School in Northern Ireland during the 1990s. McCormac 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 ...

in 2017. McCormac was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the

2021 New Year Honours The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to education and the economy.

Among published works

* "Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods of the 6th and 7th centuries AD: A Chronological Framework" with Bayliss, Hines, Nielsen and Scull (2013) * "The Norfolk Bronze Age Timber Circle" with Bayliss, Groves, Baillie and Brown

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

, 402, 479, (1999) * "Science and Stonehenge: Dating

" with Bayliss and Bronk Ramsey (1998) * "Stonehenge in its Landscape" with Housley (1995) * "Austral thermospheric wind circulation and IMF orientation" with Hernandez and Smith

Journal of Geophysical Research The ''Journal of Geophysical Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It is the flagship journal of the American Geophysical Union. It contains original research on the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the u ...

96, 5777, (1991) * "Polar cap diurnal temperature variations: Observations and Modeling" with Killeen, Burns, Meriwether, and Roble

93, 7466, (1988) * "Circulation of the polar thermosphere during geomagnetically quiet and active times as observed by Dynamics Explorer 2" with Killeen, Thayer, Hernandez, Tschan, Ponthieu and Spencer

92, 10133, (1987) * "Configuration of the high-latitude thermosphere neutral circulation for IMF By negative and positive" with Killeen, Gombosi, Hays and Spencer

Geophysical Research Letters ''Geophysical Research Letters'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal of geoscience published by the American Geophysical Union that was established in 1974. The editor-in-chief iKristopher Karnauskas Aims and scope The journal aims for ...

12, 155, (1985) * "The influence of the interplanetary magnetic field Y component on ion and neutral motions in the polar thermosphere" with Smith

1, 935, (1984)

References

External links

Vice-Chancellor – Gerry McCormac
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormac, Gerry Living people Principals by university in Scotland Academics of the University of Stirling 1958 births Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Higher Education Academy University of Michigan fellows Alumni of Ulster University Academics of Queen's University Belfast Knights Bachelor 20th-century physicists from Northern Ireland 21st-century physicists from Northern Ireland Scientists from Belfast Scholars and academics from Belfast