Career
He contributed to the understanding of thermal conductivity in crystals. His work is cited in the classical book Introduction to Solid State Physics by Charles Kittel. He also contributed to the physics of amorphous semiconductors.
This work is cited in the book Quantum Electron Theory of Amorphous Conductors.
During the Cold War, Makinson was suspected of communist sympathies and explicitly denounced by noted anti-communist William Wentworth. As a result, he was denied a number of teaching positions, including a research chair at Sydney University, where he taught from 1939 to 1968.
In the late 1970s he was an active supporter of the successful Macquarie science reform movement. Makinson died of cancer in 1979.
