John Ross Mackay, OC, FRSC (偕約翰, born December 31, 1915) is an award winning Canadian geologist. He is most noted for his explorations of permafrost phenomena in the western Canadian Arctic. His 40 years of study has enabled the building of pipeline operations and petroleum explorations in areas of frozen ground.
The Royal Society of Canada stated the following when Mackay was awarded the Willet G. Miller Medal in 1975;
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Mackay was born in Formosa (Taiwan). His grandfather was Dr. George Leslie Mackay, who was instrumental in bringing Christianity and public health care to Northern Taiwan (Formosa). The well-known Mackay Memorial Hospital was named after his ancestor.
He completed a B.A. at Clark University in 1939. He obtained an M.A. from Boston University in 1941. That same year he left his studies to join the war effort. Mackay enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces. Mackay completed training near Toronto and further training as a private (gunner) at a large artillery camp in Petawawa, on the Ottawa River. He was commissioned an Officer by 1942. Before the Second World War ended he attained the rank of Major in the Canadian Intelligence Corps. He was stationed in Ottawa until he was discharged in 1946.
In September 1946, Mackay joined McGill University's Department of Geography as an Assistant Professor. His first paper on "The North Shore of the Ottawa River, Quyon to Montebello, Quebec" was published in the Revue Canadienne de Geographie, Volume 1 in 1947. In 1949, he obtained a Ph.D. from the Université de Montréal. Later that same year he accepted a position at the University of British Columbia as an Assistant Professor with the Department of Geology and Geography. In 1953, Mackay was promoted to Associate Professor and became a full Professor in 1957.
Mackay gained international scientific recognition through his experimental and field investigations in geography, and especially on the topic of permafrost. He has published over two hundred scientific communications. Adding extensive research contributions in the Quaternary sciences.
Since 1981 he has been an Emeritus Professor at the University of British Columbia continuing to teach (voluntarily) a graduate course, undertake field research in the western Arctic and has published over fifty papers in refereed journals.
Mackay married Violet Meekins in 1944. They had two daughters, Anne and Leslie. Violet died in 1997.