Robert Aitken (university administrator)

{{Short description|New Zealand physician and university administrator (1901–1997)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Sir Robert Aitken

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRCP|size=100%}} {{post-nominals|list=FRCP(Ed) FRACP|size=100%}}

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| order =

| office = Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham

| term_start = 1953

| term_end = 1968

| chancellor =

| predecessor = H.F. Humphreys

| successor = Robert Hunter

| prior_term =

| order2 =

| office2 = Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago

| term_start2 = 1948

| term_end2 = 1953

| chancellor2 =

| predecessor2 =

| successor2 = Frederick Soper

| prior_term2 =

| birth_name = Robert Stevenson Aitken

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|04|16|df=y}}

| birth_place = Wyndham, New Zealand

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|04|10|1901|04|16|df=y}}

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| education =

| alma_mater = University of Otago (MBChB, MD)
Balliol College, Oxford (DPhil)

| occupation = {{ublist|Physician|University administrator}}

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| module = {{Infobox academic | embed = yes

| workplaces = {{ubl|London Hospital|University of London|University of Aberdeen}}

}}

Sir Robert Stevenson Aitken (16 April 1901 – 10 April 1997) was a physician and university administrator from New Zealand, vice-chancellor of the University of Otago between 1948 and 1953 and of the University of Birmingham in England between 1953 and 1968.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-sir-robert-aitken-1267474.html|title=Obituary: Sir Robert Aitken|work=The Independent|first=Owen|last=Wade|date=16 April 1997|accessdate=28 May 2007}}

Born in Wyndham on 16 April 1901, Aitken was educated at Mosgiel District High School and Gisborne High School. He went on to study medicine at the University of Otago, graduating MB ChB in 1922. He played representative field hockey for Otago in 1921 and 1922. In 1924, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, and went to study at Balliol College, Oxford, where he completed a DPhil in 1926. In 1929, Aitken married Margaret Kane, and the couple had three children.{{cite book |editor-last=Traue |editor-first=J. E. |editor-link=Jim Traue |title=Who's Who in New Zealand |edition=11th |year=1978 |publisher=Reed |location=Wellington |isbn=0-589-01113-8 |page=40}}

In 1953, Aitken was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzlii.org/nz/other/nz_gazette/1953/37.pdf |title=Coronation Medal |work=Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette |issue=37 |date=3 July 1953 |access-date=14 April 2021 |pages=1021–1035}} He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1960 Queen's Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=42051 |date=11 June 1960 |page=3973 |supp=y}}