Alexander McKay
Alexander McKay (11 April 1841 – 8 July 1917) was a New Zealand geologist.
Also recorded as A. McKay
Alexander McKay
- Born
- 1841 · Carsphairn.
- Died
- 1917 · Wellington.
- Nationality
- New Zealand
- Occupation
- geologist · photographer
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Alexander McKay (11 April 1841 – 8 July 1917) was a New Zealand geologist.
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Alexander McKay (1841–1917) was a New Zealand geologist and photographer. Born in Carsphairn, the geologist died in Wellington.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Career
Career
Born in Carsphairn, McKay reached New Zealand in 1863 where he spent a number of years prospecting for gold. A meeting with Julius von Haast saw a change of direction in which McKay, largely self-taught, undertook geological mapping and fossil collecting expeditions throughout the islands. McKay harboured dreams of becoming a commercial photographer. In 1867, he was based on an isolated farm in South Canterbury and in 1868 spent several weeks in Christchurch undertaking training with Edward Wheeler & Co. on wet-plate photography. In 1872, James Hector appointed him to the Geological Survey of New Zealand. During his geological work McKay took numerous photographs. He invented a telephoto lens and also techniques for taking images of geological collections and fossils. McKay's greatest achievement was to free New Zealand sciences from the strictures of European-based thinking, developing new theories, of worldwide importance, on block faulting in the evolution of mountain systems. The discipline of neotectonics is largely based upon McKay's observations and theories.
Identity
Identity
Alexander McKay is recorded with the occupation photographer. Recorded as geologist and photographer.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1841
Alexander McKay was born on 11 April 1841.
1917
Alexander McKay died on 8 July 1917.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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Carsphairn.
Birth place
Wellington.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Alexander McKay. Roger. Cooper.
- 2.Nathan, Simon. Alexander McKay: New Zealand's first scientific photographer. Tuhinga. 29. 35–49. 2018-06-01. 2253-5861.
- 3.Cherry Lewis, Simon J. Knell (2009) "The Making of the Geological Society of London", pp350, Geological Society of London. Retrieved February 2015
- 4.Nathan, Simon. Alexander McKay: New Zealand's first scientific photographer. Tuhinga. 29. 35–49. 2018. 10.3897/tuhinga.29.e34239.
- 5.D.G. Bishop (2008) The Real McKay, Otago University Press, Retrieved February 2015
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authority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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