PROFESSOR ALAN DAVISON

Davison, Professor Alan 79, a North Falmouth resident of 20 years, passed away at home on Saturday, November 14, 2015 after a long illness. He was the beloved husband of 21 years to Lynne (Penney) Davison. Born in Ealing, England to John W. and Ellen J. (Woodley) Davison. Alan received his bachelor's degree at the University College of Swansea and his Ph.D. at Imperial College in London. He was a chemistry instructor at Harvard University for 2 years before his 41 year career as the Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and emeritus professor for 10 years. He received a number of patents for the invention of his entire class of technetium compounds used in cardio-diagnostic procedures, including Cardiolite (reg. trademark). Alan is celebrated for his sense of humor, his kind generosity of spirit, his nonpareil chemical intuition and mentoring of generations of MIT students. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society (2000), co-authored over 250 publications, and received many awards including: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow (1967); Paul C. Aebersold Award for Outstanding Achievement in Basic Science Applied to Nuclear Medicine (1993); Ernest H. Swift Lectureship at the California Institute of Technology (1999); American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention (2006); Carothers Award for outstanding contributions and advances in industrial applications of Chemistry (2006); Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine (2006); and Society of Nuclear Medicine, Georg Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Pioneer Award (2009). In addition to his wife, Lynne, he is survived by his children: Jackie Davison Kelly & husband Michael of St. Augustine FL, Fiona Davison Blauvelt & husband Richard of Amesbury, MA, Robert Davison & wife Fiona of Charlton, MA, Rowena Davison Schommer & husband Jeff of Oak Creek, WI, Ian Davison & wife Julia of Natick, MA, Erin Dowling Luce & husband Charles of Boston, MA, and Myles Dowling of North Falmouth, MA. He also leaves his 16 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren. Visiting hours will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov 21st at Chapman Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 584 West Falmouth Hwy (Route 28A), West Falmouth. A funeral service will follow at 1:00 p.m. in the funeral home. Burial is private. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to MIT in memory of Alan Davison for the Alan Davison Fellowship Fund (#3296290). Checks should be payable to MIT and mailed to Liz McGrath, MIT Dept of Chemistry, Room 18-388, 77 Mass Ave, Cambridge MA 02139 or go online at https://giving.mit.edu/givenow/alan-davison.dyn. For online guestbook, obituary and directions, please visit www.ccgfuneralhome.com. Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home West Falmouth, MA - 508.540.4172