Founding Professor of Mathematics at the University of Papua New Guinea Passes On

Neo Malesa
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read
Photo by Roman Mager on Unsplash

Dr Maxwell Herbert McKay was the founding Professor of Mathematics at the University of Papua New Guinea when it was established in 1965. He served for over 10 years.

Today, sadly, we received an email from his daughter informing us of his passing. He was 94.

— — — — — Forwarded message — — — — —
From: Janet Reeve <***********>
Date: Tue, Sep 4, 2018 at 7:24 PM
Subject: Dr Maxwell McKay
To: vcoffice@upng.ac.pg

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you about my father, Dr Max McKay, who was the inaugural Professor of Mathematics at the University of Papua New Guinea in the 60s and 70s (over a period of 10 years).

I just wanted to inform you and the university, that my father passed away peacefully on 1st September, 2018, aged 94.

His wife Barbara died a few years ago, so Dad is survived by his 6 daughters and their families.

Dad always said that his time in Papua New Guinea was the highlight of his working life. He and Mum loved PNG and continued to have an interest in PNG all their lives.

Yours sincerely,

Janet Reeve

(Mrs Janet Reeve)


An account of Dr McKay’s life can be found in Graeme Cohen’s book Counting Australia In, which chronicles the history of mathematics in Australia.

A paragraph in the 5th chapter: Australia’s Mathematicians in World War 2

Maxwell Herbert (Max) McKay also flew with the RAAF. He was born on 2 January 1924 in Willoughby, New South Wales, attended North Sydney Boys High School where he was highly successful in the Leaving Certificate of 1941 (his second attempt, the first a year before being not at all successful) and joined the RAAF, where he was trained as a fighter pilot, soon after. McKay went to England following the Battle of Britain, switched to being a bomber pilot and flew Stirlings over North Africa. From there he was posted to 148 Squadron (RAF) in Italy, dropping supplies to the underground movements in Albania, Greece, Yugoslavia, northern Italy and southern France. University studies in Sydney began after the war. McKay was with the New South Wales University of Technology, and then the University of New South Wales, from 1954 until the end of 1966 when he became foundation professor of mathematics at the University of Papua New Guinea.

The full chapter is found here on the Australian Mathematical Society’s website.


This is the title of Dr McKay’s PhD dissertation

Maxwell Herbert McKay

Ph.D. University of New South Wales 1964

Dissertation: A theoretical investigation of resonance absorption in nuclear reactors

Mathematics Subject Classification: 82 — Statistical mechanics, structure of matter

Advisor 1: Austin Keane

It is here on the Mathematics Geneology Project website.


Our deepest gratitude, Dr Maxwell Herbert McKay, for your contribution to mathematics in Papua New Guinea.

May your memory be blessed.

Neo Malesa

Written by

Cofounder of Eternal Realm Software, Programmer at UPNG’s ICT Division. I post data visualizations, business model analyses & canvases, PNG tech, + random stuff

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