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"This [Applied Chemistry and Food
Chemistry major] would not have been possible without the
foresight, tenacity and dedication of
Professor Kenneth Magnus."
Dr Donna Minott-Kates
Professor Emeritus Kenneth Magnus contributed
greatly to the Faculty of Natural Sciences at The University of
the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica. He undertook myriad
research studies and pioneered important teaching programmes and
initiatives across the region. He authored and co-authored
four books, including one on the development of science in
Jamaica.
Born on 27th November, 1927 in Vineyard Town,
Jamaica, Kenneth Magnus attended Titchfield Primary School in
Port Antonio and was a scholarship student at Wolmer's Boys High
School. After working briefly as a Laboratory Assistant at
the Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory, he completed his Bachelor
of Science (BSc) (General) and his Master of Science (MSc) in
Organic Chemistry at the University College of the West Indies (UCWI),
later renamed UWI. In 1959, he received his Doctor of
Philosophy (PhD) in Organic Chemistry from the University of
London. Dr Magnus and Professor Cedric Hassall synthesised
the antibiotic called Monamycin, which was named after the Mona
Campus and which Magnus patented in Canada, Germany and the UK.
In 1959, Dr Magnus joined the Department of
Chemistry at UWI, Mona. He conducted research on essential
oils, food flavouring, sweeteners, sugar cane processing, food
preservation, and local medicinal plants, discovering that some
"traditional cures" were actually poisonous! He studied
bauxite manufacture and the environmentally unsafe red mud
residue from that process. His many reports included a
1984 preliminary study on converting biomass to fuel.
Dr Magnus was an outstanding educator and
administrator. In 1968, he started the Applied Chemistry
Programme, which became a separate degree at the Mona and St.
Augustine Campuses. Between 1969 and 1970, he helped
develop the science curriculum for Jamaica's primary and
secondary schools. He introduced the postgraduate Diploma
in Sugar Cane Processing, which attracted Caribbean and
non-Caribbean students. In 1982, he led the introduction
of food chemistry courses.
He headed the Department of Chemistry from
1977 to 1986, and became Professor in 1987. He served as
Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences from 1985 to 1993,
introducing courses in environmental studies, establishing
faculty awards for outstanding
 students,
and initiating computerisation. His impact on the
Faculty's approach to teaching led to its renaming as the
Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences. Professor Magnus
fostered the Faculty's relationship
with industry, which has since been formalised through the Mona
Institute of Applied Sciences. He also increased access to
university education by facilitating the completion of the UWI
first-year science programme at colleges in the Eastern
Caribbean.
On his retirement in 1996, he became
Professor Emeritus. In 2007, the university renamed the
Applied Chemistry Teaching and Research Laboratory of the Mona
Campus, The Kenneth Magnus Building in "recognition of his
significant contributions."
Professor Magnus advises aspiring scientists
to do science only if they really want to, not because of external
pressures. He adds that they should decide early what
aspect of science interest them most and do it to the best of
their ability.
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