Professor Emeritus Kenneth Eugene Magnus, C.D., (former Head of the Department of Chemistry and former Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences,

Professor Emeritus Kenneth Eugene Magnus, C.D.,

Pioneer

1959 Monamycin antibiotic -discovered by Kenneth E. Magnus

His research career, Professor Magnus conducted research on essential oils, food flavoring, sweeteners, ackee, pimento, sorrel, papaya, sugar cane processing, food preservation, and local medicinal plants. He studied bauxite processing and the environmentally unsafe red mud residue from that process. Professor Magnus along with Professor Cedric Hassall isolated the antibiotic Monamycin, which was named after the Mona Campus, and was patented in Canada, Germany, and the UK.

Awards

the Pelican Award (Guild of Graduates, The University of the West Indies, 1966),

Centenary Medal (Institute of Jamaica, 1979)

Prime Minister’s Award (1983),

Award for Science Education (Jamaica Society of Scientists and Technologists, 1985)

the Silver Musgrave Medal (1994)

the recipient of the Order of Distinction Commander Class (1996).