McKay, David S.

David S. McKay, in full David Stewart McKay, (born September 25, 1936, Titusville, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died February 20, 2013, Houston, Texas), American astrobiologist and geologist best known for claiming to have found evidence of microscopic life on a Martian meteorite.

McKay was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of an accountant for an oil company. He received a bachelor’s degree (1958) in geology from Rice University in Houston and proceeded to earn a master’s degree in geochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1960. He then worked as a field geophysicist for the Exxon Corporation before returning to Rice University to complete his doctorate (1964) in geology. He remained in Houston and in 1965 began working at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center, later renamed Johnson Space Center, where he instructed Apollo astronauts in geology and analyzed soil samples that they had retrieved from the Moon. McKay worked on a variety of projects, including the development of a method for extracting oxygen and water from lunar materials that would enable people to live on the Moon. At the time of his death in 2013, he was serving as chief scientist for astrobiology.

McKay is best known for his work on ALH 84001, a meteorite originally discovered in Antarctica in 1984. The meteorite, believed to be about 4.5 billion years old and weighing 1.9 kg (4.2 lb), had initially been classified as a diogenite, a common type of rock. It was not until 1994 that it was determined to be of Martian origin. One of only 12 such known meteorites, the specimen quickly attracted special interest. A NASA research team was assembled with McKay as its leader. The study, which took more than two years, revealed several peculiarities. First was the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). While these organic compounds are commonplace, found throughout the solar system, the PAHs in the meteorite were unusual in appearance, resembling the type that result from the decay of organic matter. The presence of the molecules within the rock and their absence on its surface ruled out Earth contamination. The team also discovered carbonate globules, which are closely associated with bacteria found on Earth. Moreover, iron sulfides and magnetite were present. These compounds, which are so small that one billion of them can fit on the head of a pin, do not usually coexist. Certain bacteria, however, synthesize them simultaneously.

In August 1996 McKay announced that the meteorite had yielded evidence indicating that primitive life may have existed on Mars. The news came only weeks after the 20th anniversary of the first Viking landing on Mars, which had concluded that the planet was sterile. While the publication of these findings in the journal Science generated a flurry of debate, McKay stressed that the findings were not definitive proof and that further research was planned. His subsequent work uncovered similarities between compounds known to be of biological origin (and found in Earth rocks dating from the Cambrian Period and the Proterozoic Eon) and those found in Martian meteorites.

McKay was also involved in the study of nanobacteria, thought by some to constitute a new life-form. However, they were found to be too small to be considered living things. He later claimed that nanobacteria, which are encased in shells made up of calcium compounds, accounted for the increased incidence of kidney stones in astronauts because nanobacteria could more quickly replicate at zero gravity. A 2007 study led by McKay confirmed previous reports that nanobacteria were capable of self-replication.