Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Mackay, John Ross
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1915-2014
History
John Ross Mackay was born in Formasa (Taiwan) on December 31, 1915 to Canadian missionary parents. He earned degrees from Clark University (B.A.. 1939) and Boston University (M.A., 1941). During WWII, Mackay enlisted as a gunner with they Royal Canada Artillery. He was recruited into the Canadian Intelligence Corps in 1942 where he spent the remainder of the war breaking Japanese codes. Post war, Mackay continued on an academic trajectory earning his Ph.D. in1949 from the Université de Montréal. Mackay was an expert in Arctic geology and the world's leading authority on the subject of permafrost. Mackay died 28 October, 1914.