Alexander Fleck, 1st Baron Fleck

{{Short description|British industrial chemist (1889–1968)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Use British English|date=December 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Fleck | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBE|FRS|FRSE}} | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Baron Alexander Fleck by E.I. Halliday.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Alexander Fleck painted in 1960 by E. I. Halliday | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1889|11|11}} | birth_place = Glasgow<ref name="frs"/> | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1968|8|6|1889|11|11}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = Imperial Chemical Industries Royal Institution University of Glasgow | alma_mater = University of Glasgow | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = KBE Fellow of the Royal Society (1955)<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Holroyd | first1 = R. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1971.0010 | doi-access = free| title = Alexander Fleck. Baron Fleck of Saltcoats 1889-1968 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 17 | pages = 242–254 | year = 1971 }}</ref> Wilhelm Exner Medal (1957) Castner Medal (1947) | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = | spouse = | children = }} '''Alexander Fleck, 1st Baron Fleck''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBE|FRS|FRSE}}<ref name="frs"/> (11 November 1889 – 6 August 1968) was a British industrial chemist.<ref name="npg">{{NPG name | id=01606 |name=Alexander Fleck, Baron Fleck }}</ref>

==Background and education== Fleck was born on 11 November 1889, the son of Robert Fleck, coal-merchant of the firm Alexander Fleck & Co of 45 Hope Street,<ref>Glasgow Post Office directory 1889</ref> and his wife, Agnes Hendry Duncan. He was educated in both Saltcoats and Hillhead High School in Glasgow.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=9 May 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> He left school at the age of fourteen to become a laboratory boy at the University of Glasgow. When Frederick Soddy arrived as a lecturer, Fleck became his assistant.

He studied at evening classes, eventually becoming a student of Glasgow University and graduating BSc in 1911. He then became a post graduate researcher, gaining a doctorate (DSc) in 1916 in the chemistry of radioactive substances.<ref name="Information1957">{{cite journal|author=Reed Business Information|title=New Scientist|journal=New Scientist Careers Guide: The Employer Contacts Book for Scientists|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LogT24DDJ0C&pg=PA20|date=22 August 1957|publisher=Reed Business Information|pages=20–|issn=0262-4079}}</ref> He was associated with the Beatson Oncology Centre where he studied the effects of radium on cancerous growths at the beginning of World War I.

==Career==

Fleck was appointed to the board of ICI in 1944 and was its chairman from 1953 to 1960. He was also chairman of Scottish Agricultural Industries, the Coal Board Organization Committee, the Scientific Advisory Council, and the Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society in 1955.<ref name="frs"/> He also received honorary doctorates from Glasgow University, Durham University, the University of Nottingham, Oxford University, University of London and Dublin University.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=9 May 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1960 he was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. He chose the subject "Interdependence of Engineering and Chemistry".<ref name="MacmillanLecture1960">{{cite web |url=http://www.iesis.org/macmillan.html |title=Hugh Miller Macmillan |work=Macmillan Memorial Lectures |publisher=Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004102303/http://www.iesis.org/macmillan.html |archive-date=2018-10-04 |access-date=2019-01-29 }}</ref> He was President of the Royal Institution from 1963 to 1968. In 1961 he was elevated to the peerage as '''Baron Fleck''', of Saltcoats in the County of Ayrshire.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42272 |date=7 February 1961 |page=933 }}</ref>

==Personal life==

In 1917 he married Isabel Mitchell Kelly (died 1955). They had no children.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=9 May 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Lord Fleck died in London on 6 August 1968, aged 78, when the barony became extinct.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-reg|uk}} {{s-new | creation}} {{s-ttl | title = Baron Fleck | years = 1961–1968 }} {{s-non | reason = Extinct }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleck, Alexander}} Category:1889 births Category:1968 deaths Category:Nobility from Glasgow Category:People educated at Hillhead High School Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow Category:20th-century Scottish chemists Category:Scottish industrialists Category:Imperial Chemical Industries executives Category:Scottish chairpersons of corporations Category:20th-century Scottish businesspeople Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II Category:British fellows of the Royal Society