David S. McKay

American astrobiologist and geologist
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Also known as: David Stewart McKay
Quick Facts
In full:
David Stewart McKay
Born:
September 25, 1936, Titusville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died:
February 20, 2013, Houston, Texas (aged 76)
Subjects Of Study:
meteorite
ALH84001

David S. McKay (born September 25, 1936, Titusville, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died February 20, 2013, Houston, Texas) was an American astrobiologist and geologist best known for claiming to have found evidence of microscopic life on a Martian meteorite. McKay was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of an accountant for an oil company. He received a bachelor’s degree (1958) in geology from Rice University in Houston and proceeded to earn a master’s degree in geochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1960. He then worked as a field geophysicist for the Exxon Corporation before returning to Rice University to complete his ...(100 of 565 words)