Kevin Russel Tate (8 April 1943 – 22 January 2018) was a New Zealand soil chemist, ecologist and climate scientist.
[6] Tate studied chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating BSc in 1964, and MSc the following year.
[7] Tate then completed a PhD on decarboxylation kinetics and mechanisms under Robert Walker Hay at Victoria,[8] before moving to Soil Bureau, a branch of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in the Hutt Valley.
Much of Tate's early research involved the storage and cycling of phosphorus and carbon in soils, particularly in economically important New Zealand grasslands and native forests.
[11] In 2005, Tate was awarded the Marsden Medal by the New Zealand Association of Scientists for "contribution to, and leadership of, research into ecosystem processes and climate change [spanning] four decades.