Charles Edward Kenneth MeesFRS^[1] (26 May 1882 – 15 August 1960) was a Britishscientist andphotographic researcher.

Mees was born inWellingborough,England, the son of aWesleyanminister.

He attended theUniversity of London. In 1906 he was awarded hisD.Sc. with a dissertation on photographic theory.

From 1906 until 1912, Mees worked for Wratten and Wainwright, Ltd., assistingFrederick Wratten in developing the firstpanchromatic photographic plates, as well aslight filters and safelights for the darkroom.

In 1912,Eastman Kodak Company acquired Wratten and Wainwright because they were interested in the skills Mees provided.George Eastman convinced Mees to move toRochester,New York, United States, where Mees created the Kodak Research Laboratories,^[2] becoming its first director.^[3]

Mees helped the US military inWorld War I in its instruction of photography.^[2] After theattack on Pearl Harbor, Mees became an American citizen so that he could have access to high security war projects and information duringWorld War II.^[2]

Later, he was named vice president in charge of Research and Development for Eastman Kodak; he remained at that position until he retired in 1955.^[2]

During his career, he published 100 scientific papers and 60 other works. Among his accomplishments was the development of sensitive photographic emulsions for use inastronomy.

Mees served as the first president of the board of trustees ofGeorge Eastman House from 1947 until 1954.^[4]

He died suddenly inHonolulu in 1960.

He married in 1909 Alice Crisp, and together they raised two children: Graham (1910) and Doris (1912). They were married for 45 years.^[2]

In 1951 he suffered a massive thrombosis in one leg and lost it to amputation. Despite that, he became adept at using an artificial limb and even managed to drive his own car.^[2]

• C.E. Kenneth Mees,An Atlas of Absorption Spectra, 1909.
• C.E. Kenneth Mees,The Photography of Colored Objects, 1909.
• C.E. Kenneth Mees,F. M. Hamer and L. G. S. Brooker.Recent advances in sensitizers for the photography of the infrared. J. Opt. Soc. Am., 23:216., 1933
• C.E. Kenneth Mees,Photography, Macmillan Co., New York, 1942.
• C.E. Kenneth Mees,The Theory of the Photographic Process, Macmillan Co., New York, 1942.
• C.E. Kenneth Mees & S. Sheppard,Investigations on the Theory of the Photographic Process.
• C.E. Kenneth Mees,The Path of Science, J. Wiley & sons, inc., 1946.
• C.E. Kenneth Mees and John A. Leermakers,The Organization of Industrial Scientific Research, McGraw-Hill, 1950.
• C.E. Kenneth Mees,From dry plates to Ektachrome film: a story of photographic research, Ziff-Davis Pub. Co., 1961.

• Progress Medal, Royal Photographic Society, Great Britain, 1912 and 1952^[2]
• Hurter and Driffield Medal, 1924^[2]
• Henry Draper Medal,National Academy of Sciences, 1936.^[5]
• Progress Medal, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, 1936^[6]
• Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society, 1937^[7]
• Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1941^[8]
• Member of the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences, 1950^[9]
• Franklin Medal, 1954
• Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society
• Fellow of theRoyal Society, 1939^[1]
• Inductee, International Photography Hall of Fame, 1972
• Honorary Member of theOptical Society of America, 1957

• The C.E.K. Mees Award is the highest research honor given by Kodak.
• The C.E.K. Mees Medal, awarded in odd-numbered years by theOptical Society of America, is named after him and was endowed by the Mees family. It has been rewarded annually since 2017.^[10]
• TheUniversity of Rochester'sC.E.K. Mees Observatory is named after him.
• The craterMees on theMoon is named after him.
• Mees Solar Observatory on the summit ofHaleakala is named after him.

• James, Thomas H. (1990).C. E. Kenneth Mees: Pioneer of Industrial Research. Photographic Research Laboratory, Eastman Kodak Company.ISBN 0879856572.

• Dr. C.E. Kenneth Mees (1882–1960)Archived 4 March 2016 at theWayback Machine at iphf.org
• Historically speaking - tribute to C.E. Kenneth Mees, scientist and photographer, and former VP at Eastman Kodak
• Charles Edward Kenneth Mees 1882-1960 Mees' role in history of infrared photography development and Kodachrome
• National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir