Allan Mackintosh

Who was Allan Mackintosh?

Allan Roy Mackintosh, FRS was a prominent English-born Danish physicist and a leading authority on magnetism and neutron scattering, especially in the rare-earth metals.

Mackintosh was known for his key role in stimulating solid-state physics research in Denmark and for his advocacy of international collaboration. Many of his former students now occupy leading academic and industrial posts in a variety of countries. As director of the Danish Atomic Energy Research Establishment from 1971 to 1976 he was a major force in Danish science policy and a prolific contributor to the public debate about nuclear power.

Mackintosh was born in 1936 in Nottingham, England and received his university education at the University of Cambridge. His doctoral research at Cambridge was carried out in the renowned Cavendish Laboratory under Sir Brian Pippard, where he investigated the Fermi surface of metals.

On leaving Cambridge in 1960, he became Associate Professor of Physics at Iowa State University and worked in its Ames Laboratory for seven years. This is where he established himself as a leading expert on the fundamental electrical and magnetic properties of the newly purified group of elements, the rare-earth metals.