John Hammond FRS
Encyclopedia
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
FRS PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(23 February 1889 - 25 August 1964), was a physiologist, agricultural research scientist, veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
and Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
. He was a pioneer of artificial insemination
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
.
Background and education
The son of Burrell Hammond, a NorfolkNorfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
farmer, Hammond was educated at Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
and Downing College, Cambridge
Downing College, Cambridge
Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1800 and currently has around 650 students.- History :...
. He was named after his grandfather, another John Hammond, who was both a farmer and a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
and one of the founders of the Red Poll
Red Poll
The Red Poll is a dual purpose breed of cattle developed in England in the latter half of the 19th century.-Description and uses:The cattle are red, preferably deep red with white only on the tail switch and udder. They are naturally polled...
herdbook in the 1870s.
Career
Hammond arrived at Downing as an undergraduate in 1907 and for most of his career was a FellowFellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of the College. He also headed the School of Physiology of Animal Reproduction of Cambridge University and was a founder of the Cambridge Animal Research Station.
Hammond conducted classical studies on embryo survival in the early 1920s. His famous study Rate of Intra-uterine Growth (1938) showed that crossbred foetal foals grew at the rate of their dams' pure breed. He was the first to crystallize the theory of metabolic rate-dependent prioritizing of nutrient partitioning between tissues. He was also the first to report the duration of oestrus for lactating cows (19.3 hours) and heifers (16.1 hours). He studied closely the major changes in animal shape resulting from the domestication and selective breeding of farm animals.
With Arthur Walton, Hammond was one of the pioneers of artificial insemination
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
('AI'). As he couldn’t practice certain AI techniques in England, because of religious and cultural taboos, Hammond sponsored work in other countries where such limitations did not apply. He sent a colleague, Dr Luis Thomasset, to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
to work on AI with the Soviets. He himself introduced AI to other countries, such as Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
His book The Artificial Insemination of Cattle (1947) was the first comprehensive publication on AI published in England.
Hammond founded the British Cattle Breeders Club in 1946 and was an active member in the early days of the European Association for Animal Production, serving on its Preparatory Committee.
He ended his life as the guru of the British livestock world and is widely regarded as the father of modern animal physiology. His two sons, John Hammond, Jr., and Christopher Hammond (who died in 2002), followed him in his work.
Publications
- Rate of Intra-uterine Growth by J. Hammond and A. Walton, in Proceedings of the Royal Society, B, 125, 311 (1938)
- Anatomical and histological changes during the oestrous cycle in the mare, by John Hammond and Kazimierz Wodzicki
- Hammond, John, et al., The Artificial Insemination of Cattle (Cambridge, Heffer, 1947, 61pp)
- Hammond's Farm Animals by John Hammond (5th edition, 1984, revised by John Hammond Jr.)
- Farm Animals, their Breeding, Growth, and Inheritance by John Hammond (1940)
- Farm Animals by Sir John Hammond, new edition ed. J. Hammond, John C. Bowman and T.J. Robinson (Edward Arnold, London, 1982)
- Cattle At the Crossroads - Containing radio broadcasts by John Hammond on the Home Service of the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on Cattle Breeding, from the Series Farming Today (Littlebury & Co., 1944) - Animal Breeding by John Hammond (1963)
Honours
- Fellow of the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, 1933 - Commander of the Order of Orange-NassauOrder of Orange-NassauThe Order of Orange-Nassau is a military and civil order of the Netherlands which was created on 4 April 1892 by the Queen regent Emma of the Netherlands, acting on behalf of her under-age daughter Queen Wilhelmina. The Order is a chivalry order open to "everyone who have earned special merits for...
, 1946 - Commander of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, 1949 - Commander of the Order of Merit of the RepublicItalian orders of meritThere are five orders of knighthood awarded in recognition of service to the Italian Republic. Below these sit a number of other decorations, associated and otherwise, that do not confer knighthoods...
(ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), 1954 - Knight, 1960
- First recipient of the David Black Award, 1960
- Honorary DScDSC-in academia:* D.Sc., Doctor of Science* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine* Dalton State College, Georgia* Daytona State College, Florida* Deep Springs College, California* Dixie State College of Utah...
, University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, 1961 - International Stockman's Educational Foundation Hall of Fame Award (posthumous, 1988)
In his memory, the British Society of Animal Science
British Society of Animal Science
British Society of Animal Science is a learned society in the field of animal science, established in 1944 as the British Society of Animal Production....
gives a Sir John Hammond Award annually.
A Hammond Lecture was established in 1980 by the former Society for the Study of Fertility as a memorial lecture in honour of Sir John Hammond, and until 2002 was presented at the winter meetings of the Society for Reproduction and Fertility by a scientist recognised for the practical application of reproductive research to agriculture.