Alexander Gow Mearns FRSE MBE (1903–1968) was a Scottish physician and public health expert. He was one of the first people in forensic science to use insect activity to determine the time of death.A Fly for the Prosecution: M Lee Goff In authorship he is referred to as A. G. Mearns.
Life He is thought to be the son of Robert Mearns, a lawyer living at Ythan Bank in Pollokshaws in Glasgow.Glasgow Post Office directory 1903-4
He studied medicine at Glasgow University graduating BSc in 1925 and MB ChB in 1926 and a diploma in public health in 1929. He lectured in public health at Glasgow University.
Developing his own ideas within the fledgling science of forensic anthropology he worked with Prof John Glaister on the prosecution case of the murderer Dr Buck Ruxton in 1936. His evidence was one of the world's first to use the development of certain maggots within a corpse to determine the date of death.
In 1941 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John Glaister, Edward Hindle, John Walton and George Walter Tyrell.
In the New Years Honours List of 1956 he was created a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).London Gazette, 2 January 1956
He died in Glasgow on 6 January 1968.
Publications The Whole Child (1961) Hygiene Manual of Public Health (with J R Currie) (1948)
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