English nutritional scientist
Magnus Alfred PykeOBE FRSE FRIC (29 December – 19 October ) was an English nutritional scientist, governmental scientific adviser, writer and presenter. He worked for the UK Ministry of Food, the post-war Allied Commission for Austria, and different food manufacturers. He wrote prolifically and became famous as a TV and radio personality, and was featured on Thomas Dolby's synth-pop hit, "She Blinded Me with Science".
Pyke was born at Gloucester Terrace, Paddington, London, the son of Clara Hannah Lewis and Robert Bond Pyke, manager of a wholesale confectionery business. He went to St. Paul's School, Barnes, London, where he found he had a "certain bounciness combined with a lack of self-consciousness."[1]
He worked briefly for an insurance company before moving to Canada to attend Macdonald College, McGill University, Montreal, studying agriculture, gaining a BSc in During summers there, he worked as a farm labourer. He remained in Canada for seven years.[2]
He returned to the UK and in became chief chemist at Vitamins Ltd., Hammersmith, London. He worked with Professor nd of University College, London on vitamin research. He gained a Ph.D. in biochemistry in [3]
On 23 August he married Dorothea Mina Vaughan (–86), an accountant. They had a daughter and a son.[2]
In Pyke joined Professor Drummond at the Ministry of Food where Drummond was scientific adviser. They studied the nutritional effects of food restrictions due to wartime shortages. He lectured on practical nutrition for those working in institutions that provided food: these lectures were published by H.M. Stationery Office under the title The Manual of Nutrition () [the revised 12th edition is still in print, published by the Food Standards Agency]. He supported the idea of using rose hip syrup to replace imported orange juice. He was a scientific adviser to the Allied Commission for Austria in –6, after which he worked as Principal Scientific officer at the Ministry of Food (–48), continuing to work on institutional diets and nutritional education.[2][3]
He joined The Distillers Company in as the deputy manager of the yeast research division at Glenochil Research Station, Clackmannanshire. In he became manager, retiring in [4][3]
Pyke became chairman of the Nutrition Society (Scotland) (–55), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (), council member of the Institute of Biology (–62), council member of the Society of Chemical Industry (–69) and president of the Institute of Food Science & Technology (–77).
He became a council member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in , then secretary, and finally chairman in , a position he held until He claimed that food manufacturers provided a social service and defended them against accusations of providing unhealthy products.[5][3]
Pyke wrote dozens of scientific papers and publications on food and nutrition, and their links to technology and social change. A list of his published books is below.
Pyke's early broadcasts were from April in talks about science and technology on the BBC's Home Service, Third Programme (later Radio 3), Light Programme and the educational programming of Network Three; later he also broadcast on Radio 2 and Radio 4.[6] In , he appeared on Yorkshire Television's Don't Ask Me and then Don't Just Sit There (until ), in which he and other experts such as David Bellamy, Rob Buckman and Miriam Stoppard fielded popular science questions. His exuberant delivery, with very animated and passionate speech and gesticulation, made him famous. He was a panellist on radio programmes such as Any Questions? and Just a Minute and a guest on Desert Island Discs. He called this period his "sixth life".[1]
In September , the popular science magazine New Scientist asked its readers to name the best-known and most characteristic scientist. Pyke came third after Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.[2] On 10 December , Pyke was celebrated on This Is Your Life, a Thames Television production for ITV.[citation needed] He won the Pye Colour Television Award for most promising male newcomer to television () and the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop Star Award for expert of the year (–78).[3]
(all as himself unless otherwise indicated)[7][6]
He received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Stirling (),[8]Lancaster University (),[9] and his alma mater, McGill University ().[3]
In he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[3]
Pyke retired from regular broadcasting in , save for occasional TV appearances. He nursed his wife at home in Hammersmith until her death in He survived a brutal robbery at his home in that left him badly injured.[10] He died on 19 October at Elmsbank Nursing Home, Carlton Drive, Wandsworth, London.[2][11]