John Semple Galbraith was a 20th-century British Empire historian, concentrating on Canada (The Hudson's Bay Company) and South and East Africa, and former Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego

University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...

. A native of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, his family immigrated to the US in 1926. He received a BA from Miami University

Miami University

Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...

 in Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 in 1938, and Ph.D. in 1943 at the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

, working under his dissertation advisor, C. W. de Kiewiet. He served as an Army historical officer for the Third Air Force

Third Air Force

The Third Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe . It is headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....

 until 1946, and assumed a professorship at UCLA in 1948. As a condition of accepting the chancellorship from UC

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

 President Clark Kerr

Clark Kerr

Clark Kerr was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and twelfth president of the University of California.- Early years :...

 in 1964, he secured a promise that a library would be built and that UCSD would otherwise receive full standing as an autonomous university of the system. The Geisel Library

Geisel Library

The Geisel Library is the main library building on the University of California, San Diego campus and contains four of the six libraries located on campus...

is considered his legacy at UCSD. He left the campus for a visiting fellowship at Cambridge in 1968, and subsequently resumed teaching at UCLA.