Sir John Hammond

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

FRS PhD (23 February 1889 – 25 August 1964), was a

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

, agricultural

research scientist A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

known for his pioneering work in

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

. He gives his name to the Sir John Hammond Memorial Prize.

Background and education

The son of Burrell Hammond, a farmer in

Briston Briston is a village, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the England, English county of Norfolk. Briston is located south-west of Holt, Norfolk, Holt and north-west of Norwich. History Bris ...

, Norfolk, Hammond was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

and

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...

. He was named after his grandfather, another John Hammond, who was both a farmer and a

and one of the founders of the

Red Poll The Red Poll is a dual-purpose breed of cattle developed in England in the latter half of the 19th century. The Red Poll is a cross of the Norfolk Red beef cattle and Suffolk Dun dairy cattle breeds. Description and uses The cattle are red, pre ...

herdbook in the 1870s.

Career

Hammond arrived at Downing as an undergraduate in 1907 and for most of his career was a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the college. He also headed the School of Physiology of Animal Reproduction of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

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 crystallise the theory of metabolic rate-dependent prioritising 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

('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 to work on AI with the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

. He himself introduced AI to other countries, such as

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. 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

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

on Cattle Breeding, from the Series ''Farming Today'' (Littlebury & Co., 1944) *''Animal Breeding'' by John Hammond (1963)

Honours

*Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, 1933 *Commander of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

, 1946 *Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, 1949 *Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic (Italy), 1954 *Knight, 1960 *First recipient of the David Black Award, 1960 *Honorary

DSc DSC or Dsc may refer to: Education * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dyal Sin ...

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, 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 (BSAS) is a learned society in the field of animal science, established in 1944 as the British Society of Animal Production. Maggie Mitchell is Chief Executive of the British Society of Animal Science. Elizabeth ...

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 ''Reproduction'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering the cellular and molecular biology of reproduction, including the development of gametes and early embryos in all species; developmental processes such as cell differentiation, m ...

by a scientist recognised for the practical application of reproductive research to agriculture.

Background and education

Career

Publications

Honours

References

Further reading