J.S. Kennedy
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Stodart Kennedy FRS (19 May 1912 – 4 February 1993) was an American-born British
entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
. Kennedy was born in
Titusville, Pennsylvania Titusville is a city in the far eastern corner of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,262 at the 2020 census. Titusville is known as the birthplace of the American oil industry and for a number of years was the le ...
, USA, the only son of James John Stodart Kennedy, an Anglo-Scottish railway engineer, and his American wife, Edith Roberts Lammers. After a living in several parts of the world the family returned to the UK after
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, where John was able to go to
Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...
and study entomology at
Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...
, which he left in favour of
University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
. During World War II he worked on a Colonial Office organising crop dusting as part of an anti-locust campaign. After the war he worked for some twenty years in the ARC unit at Cambridge, during which time he met and married marine biologist Claudette Bloch (née Raphael), mother of
Maurice Bloch Maurice Émile Félix Bloch (born 21 October 1939) is a British anthropologist. He is famous for his fieldwork on the shift of agriculturalists in Madagascar, Japan and other parts of the world, and has also contributed important neo-Marxian w ...
, before returning in 1967 to Imperial College as Professor of Animal Behaviour. Kennedy was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1965. His nomination citation stated that he ''"Has studied a wide variety of problems in the physiology and behaviour of insects, particularly mosquitos, locusts and aphids. Was one of the first to use experimental methods for the study of locust behaviour in the field; his original ideas on the orientation and movements of locusts have exerted a wide influence, as have his recent analyses of migratory activity and phase change. His publications on nutrition, behaviour and virus transmission by aphids are equally important; he has gone far towards interpreting ecological behaviour in terms of physiological responses as studied in the laboratory. His work is characterized by penetrating and original thought and ingenious experiment."'' Kennedy was awarded the
Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...
in 1984 by the
Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...
. In 2009, a building erected on Imperial College's Silwood campus was named after him. His papers are in the archives of the Imperial College London, Archives and Corporate Records Unit.


References

1912 births 1993 deaths Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of University College London British communists British entomologists Linnean Medallists Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-zoologist-stub