Alexander Fleck, 1st Baron Fleck
Alexander Fleck, 1st Baron Fleck (11 November 1889 – 6 August 1968) was a British industrial chemist. Background and education Fleck was born on 11 November 1889, the son of Robert Fleck, coal-merchant of the firm Alexander Fleck & Co of 45 Hope Street, and his wife, Agnes Hendry Duncan. He was educated in both Saltcoats and Hillhead High School in Glasgow. He left school at the age of fourteen to become a laboratory boy at the University of Glasgow. When Frederick Soddy arrived as a lecturer, Fleck became his assistant. He studied at evening classes, eventually becoming a student of Glasgow University and graduating BSc in 1911. He then became a post graduate researcher, gaining a doctorate (DSc) in 1916 in the chemistry of radioactive substances. He was associated with the Beatson Oncology Centre where he studied the effects of radium on cancerous growths at the beginning of World War I. Career Fleck was appointed to the board of ICI in 1944 and was its chairman from 1953 to 1960. He was also chairman of Scottish Agricultural Industries, the Coal Board Organization Committee, the Scientific Advisory Council, and the Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee. He was elected an Honorary Fellow