John Hammond (physiologist)

Sir John Hammond CBE FRS PhD (23 February 1889 – 25 August 1964), was a physiologist, agricultural research scientist, veterinarian known for his pioneering work in artificial insemination. He gives his name to the Sir John Hammond Memorial Prize.

Background and education

The son of Burrell Hammond, a farmer in Briston, Norfolk, Hammond was educated at Gresham's School and Downing College, Cambridge. He was named after his grandfather, another John Hammond, who was both a farmer and a veterinarian and one of the founders of the Red Poll herdbook in the 1870s.

Career

Hammond arrived at Downing as an undergraduate in 1907 and for most of his career was a Fellow of the college. He also headed the School of Physiology of Animal Reproduction of the University of Cambridge 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 artificial 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 to work on AI with the Soviets. He himself introduced AI to other countries, such as Argentina.

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
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