A brilliant astrophysicist and one of the world's leading experts on the Stargate, Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay is a member of the Atlantis base's lead reconnaissance unit, under the command of Major John Sheppard. As a child McKay always wanted to be a pianist, but his teacher discouraged him from continuing to practice, believing he had no sense of the art. McKay turned to science because he thought it would be the farthest away from his previous pursuits -- but he discovered it was just as much of an art as anything else. While posted at Area 51 on the Air Force payroll, McKay was assigned to work with a computer model of the Antarctic Stargate. His first chance to see the "real thing" came during a crisis at the S.G.C. when Teal'c was trapped within the Stargate's temporary memory buffer. After meeting Samantha Carter, also an astrophysicist and his counterpart at Stargate Command, it became evident that he and she got off on the wrong foot, despite physical attractions shared by both. Arrogant and condescending by personality, McKay was insistent that the Stargate's crystal memory did not contain the remains of Teal'c, and pushed for the Stargate program to recommence immediately -- destroying any chance of rescuing the Jaffa. McKay turned out to be wrong, and with aid from a Goa'uld Teal'c was recovered. After the incident, he was swiftly reassigned to Russia to advise their new naquadah reactor program. Carter was not sad to see him go. He returned less than a year later, when his services were required to solve yet another gate-related crisis at the S.G.C. McKay arrived to learn that the gate had been open long past its 38-minute limit; the Goa'uld Anubis was using a weapon to destroy the gate, and Earth along with it. With help from a somewhat hostile Major Carter -- whom he found both increasingly attractive and worthy of his respect -- they devised a plan to save Earth by sending the Stargate away from the planet through hyperspace. McKay and Carter had made a good team, saving the Earth from certain destruction. Carter finally acknowledged to McKay that she did, indeed, find him attractive, before he was dismissed from the facility after a job well-done. McKay was later assigned to the Atlantus outpost left behind by the Ancients in Antarctica, where he quickly became an expert on Ancient technology and pioneered the interface between human and Ancient technology. He was disturbed to learn that he is not among those who possess a very rare gene which allows some -- including Sheppard and McKay's friend and colleague Carson Beckett -- to operate Ancient technology intuitively. But Dr. Beckett's gene therapy has helped there -- after allowing himself to be a test subject, McKay has found that he can activate Ancient devices. McKay joined Dr. Elizabeth Weir's expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy, only to learn that they do not have the power to return home to Earth. He joined up as a member of Sheppard's off-world reconnaissance unit, and the two quickly became friends (though they drive each other crazy). Rodney has one sister, Jeannie, who is married with a young daughter. The two were estranged for several years, but a need arising from the Atlantis expedition forced Rodney to get back in touch with his sister -- who also has a brilliant scientific mind. PLAYED BY - David Hewlett FIRST APPEARED - 48 Hours
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