Professor John Richardson Marrack, DSO, MC (26 November 1886 – 1976) was the Emeritus Professor of Chemical Pathology in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, visiting professor to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

and known for his book ''Antigens and Antibodies'' (1934).

Early life

Marrack was born in

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...

in Tiverton,

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, and at the

London Hospital Medical College The London Hospital Medical College was a medical school, medical and later dental school based at the London Hospital (later Royal London Hospital) in Whitechapel, London. Founded in 1785, it was the first purpose-built medical college in Englan ...

. Marrack served in the

RAMC The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

from 1914 to 1919 and was appointed Medical Officer on Poison Gas to the British Army. Marrack was a John Lucas Walker Student and a Beir Memorial Fellow at

Cambridge University 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 later a

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of St John's College. He received the Distinguished Service Award of the First International Congress of Immunology in 1971. His citation for this award reads: ''"For revolutionary ideas that have become commonplace in his lifetime, and for pioneering in the physico-chemical interpretation of

antigen-antibody interaction Antigen-antibody interaction, or antigen-antibody reaction, is a specific chemical interaction between antibodies produced by B cells of the white blood cells and antigens during immune reaction. The antigens and antibodies combine by a process ca ...

s".'' He was adviser to the

Ministry of Food Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was instrumental in developing Great Britain's nutrition policy and accurately forecasting the country's post-war nutritional needs.

Sources

*Obituary of Professor J. R. Marrack, The Times, 27 July 1976 (pg. 14; Issue 59766; col F) {{DEFAULTSORT:Marrack, John 1886 births 1976 deaths People educated at Blundell's School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Military Cross British immunologists British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Medical Corps officers