Record

Authorised form of nameLucas; Keith (1879 - 1916)
Dates1879 - 1916
NationalityBritish
Place of birthGreenwich, London, England
Date of birth08 March 1879
Place of deathIn the air over Salisbury Plain, near Aldershot, Hampshire
Date of death05/10/1916
Research fieldPhysiology
Instrument designer
ActivityEducation:
Reverend T Oldham's preparatory school at Blackheath, and Rugby; Minor Scholarship in classics to Trinity College, Cambridge (1898). Changed to natural science, first class in first part of tripos, trip to New Zealand, second part of Tripos, 1904. MA; Took his DSc in 1911.
Career:
Elected Fellow of Trinity College (1904), college lecturer in natural science (1906). Published 25 papers in the 'Journal of Physiology' (1904-14) on physico-chemical properties of nerves and muscles. At the same time he devised instruments of great ingenuity, elegance and precision.
Gave Croonian Lecture in 1912.
Became a Director of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company (1906-1914) then joined the Royal Aircrat Factory, desingning many instruments for teaching and research.
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election01/05/1913
Royal Society activityLectures:
Croonian 1912
RelationshipsSecond son of Francis Robert Lucas, Managing Director of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company of Greenwich (inventor of improvements in submarine cables and cable laying), and Katherine Mary, daughter of John Riddle, headmaster of Greenwich Hospital schools.
married Alys, daughter of the Reverend Cyril Egerton Hubbard (1909). Three sons - Alan (b. 1910), David (1911-1997), and Bryan (1912-1996).
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1918-1919 vol 95 pp i-vii, plate, by Horace Darwin, and pp viii-xi by W M Bayliss
Proc Roy Soc Series B 1917-1919 vol 90 pp xxxi-xxxviii, plate, by Horace Darwin, and pp xxxviii-xlii by W M Bayliss
References:
J K Bradley and E M Tansey, 'The Coming of the Electronic Age to the Cambridge Physiological Laboratory: E D Adrian's Valve Amplifier in 1921' in NR 1996 vol 50 pp 217-228
Keith-Lucas, Alys 'Keith LUCAS (recollections)' 1934, Cambridge.
Royal Society codeNA7995
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
NLB/54/153Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to R. A. Raven Esquire 20 February 1917
NLB/46/81Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Keith Lucas7 June 1912
NLB/46/41Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Keith Lucas30 May 1912
NLB/55/700Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mrs. K. Lucas, Streeters Rough, Chelwood Gate, Sussex24 July 1918
RR/21/111Referee's report by Keith Lucas, on a paper 'Man's mechanical efficiency in work performance and the cost of the movements involved (treated separately)' by John Smyth Macdonald[June 1914]
RR/21/104Referee's report by Keith Lucas, on a paper 'The excitatory process in the dog’s heart. Part I. —The auricles' by Thomas Lewis, John Meakins and Paul D White[July 1914]
RR/19/81Referee's report by Francis Gotch, on the Croonian Lecture 'The process of excitation in nerve and muscle' by Keith Lucas21 June 1912
EC/1913/12Lucas, Keith: certificate of election to the Royal Society
MC/27/231Letter from Keith Lucas, Royal Spithead Hotel Ltd, Pembridge, to the [Royal Society]27 March 1912
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