Dr Alexander King (Chemistry 1929, MSc 1931)

Provided by Jane King

Alexander King made an immense contribution to world society. Even as the Second World War came to an end he foresaw the looming ecological crisis and devoted his energies to alerting decision makers throughout the world. He was an innovator in many fields including the application of science and technology to human affairs and drew many awards, among which were the US Medal of Freedom, the Erasmus Medal from the Netherlands, a CBE and honorary degrees from several universities, including the University of Strathclyde and the Open University.

His schooling was first in Glasgow, then London when his parents moved there for a time. He studied Physical Chemistry at Imperial College London and was awarded a DSc. During that period he led a scientific expedition to the remote arctic island of Jan Mayen, and was one of the first to ascend the lofty summit of Beerenberg. He married his wife Sarah in 1933 and soon after the couple crossed the Baltic in a canoe.

In 1939 he was as recruited by Sir Henry Tizard, then Rector of Imperial College, to assist in scientific aspects of war planning. Notably, he identified DDT as an insecticide, and organised its production. It is said to have saved thousands of British lives in the Far East conflict. He was sent to Washington in 1942 where he led the British mission for exchanging information with the US, also becoming Director of the British Commonwealth Scientific Office.

Post-war he accepted Tizard's invitation to become Director of a Central Scientific Secretariat in the office of the UK cabinet, later becoming Scientific Advisor to the Lord President of the Council, then Herbert Morrison. After the Attlee administration ended he was appointed a Chief Scientist in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. However he became increasingly dissatisfied with the UK government's approach to science and technology and moved to Paris as Director of the European Productivity Agency, part of what is now the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), where he was appointed Head of Science, then in 1960, a Director General.

While he was in France he bought and built up a ruined farmhouse in Provence, the Negronne, where he entertained friends and decision makers. It was his abiding personal creative effort. It was at that time that he embarked on his effort to warn the world of the dangers inherent in that complex amalgam of burgeoning population, environmental deterioration and misdirected economic growth. He met Aurelio Peccei, then Head of Fiat, and together they founded the Club of Rome. This informal high level group of leading thinkers from industry and academe met to consider what might be done. Perhaps it's most visible action was the sponsorship of the research that led to the publication of the Limits to Growth, which stimulated a yet unfinished global debate. With Peccei, he wrote The First Global Revolution, a commentary on the human predicament which was published in many languages with a wide circulation.

He succeeded Peccei as President of the Club and on retirement from the OECD devoted all his time and energy to it. He travelled the world, becoming on intimate terms with heads of state, kings and princes, politicians, scientists and economists. In 1972, following the first UN conference on the environment, he organised the formation of IFIAS, the International Federation of Institutes of Advanced Study, a group of  fifteen institutes which committed themselves to dealing with aspects of the 'world problematique'. 

After suffering a mild stroke in 1993 he moved to London to be nearer his two daughters and their families. Well into his 90's he acquired a computer and set out to write an account of the dramatic changes witnessed during his lifetime, from his boyhood in Glasgow to the present. Let the cat turn round: one man's account of the 20th century was published in his ninety-seventh year. Even though sorely affected by the death of his wife, he maintained a keen interest in world affairs to the very end, keeping in touch with his contacts internationally through email. It was fortunate that he was, as he himself put it, a biological optimist, for in spite of all the efforts of the Club of Rome and its successors, he saw the world slowly slipping into an unsustainable state. As he reflects in his book: "I am confident that when 2084 dawns, the world will have quite other preoccupations; the jungle society will have passed into history, as do all civilisations. Hopefully the eternal qualities of humanity will have survived the perils of ultimate materialism and be searching in new directions. The then current planetary problems will no doubt be every bit as threatening as jungle-ism seems to me today. Despite all my fears for the future of man and society, I find that I am still curiously optimistic. I still believe that Homo sapiens has the inner capability to develop to be something greater than itself."

Alexander King died on 28 February 2007, aged 98.