Arthur Worth Ham (20 February 1902 – 6 September 1992) was a prominent

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

histologist Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

. His textbook ''Histology'' is considered by many practitioners an indispensable reference.

Early life, education, and tennis

Ham's early education came through

Brantford Collegiate Institute Brantford Collegiate Institute and Vocational School, also known as "Brantford Collegiate Institute" or "BCI", is a secondary school in the city of Brantford. It is a member of the Grand Erie District School Board, a medium-sized school board in ...

and Vocational School. He followed with a medical degree (MB) from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

which he completed in 1927. In 1925, Ham married Dorothy Carlotta Ross. While interning at the Wellesley Hospital, Ham also pursued an active tennis career. In 1928 and 1929, he doubles played for Canada's Davis Cup team, partnering Jack Wright. In '28 he and Wright lost 10-8 in the fifth set to the Japanese duo of Tamio Abe and

Teizo Toba Teizo Toba (15 September 1901 – 18 January 2002) was a Japanese tennis player. Born in Kyoto, Toba attended Kobe Commercial High School and in 1923 won the singles title at the Far Eastern Championship Games held in Osaka. He played Davis Cup f ...

, as Japan prevailed in this America Zone semi-final tie, 3-1. In 1929, Ham and Wright lost to the American team of

John F. Hennessey John Francis Hennessey (October 27, 1900 – August 18, 1981) was a top American tennis player of the 1920s. Career Hennessey was ranked among the 10 best American players three times, his highest ranking being No. 4 in 1928. In both 1927 and ...

and

John Van Ryn John Van Ryn (June 30, 1905 – August 7, 1999) was an American tennis champion of the 1930s. He was primarily known as the doubles partner of Wilmer Allison. Van Ryn won the Men's Doubles at Wimbledon three straight years (1929–31). He t ...

, 1-6, 1-6, 6-1, 2-6. Canada lost this tie as well, an America Zone first round encounter, 0-5.

Histology

In the early 1930s, Ham published his first series of major papers on the formation, maintenance, and destruction of bone within the body. The study of bone would be a theme to which Ham would return throughout his career. The first edition of Ham's seminal histology text–titled simply ''Histology''–was published in 1950.

Late career

In 1951, Ham was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

. Along with

Harold E. Johns Harold Elford Johns (4 July 1915 – 23 August 1998) was a Canadian medical physicist, noted for his extensive contributions to the use of ionizing radiation to treat cancer. Early life and education Johns was born to missionary parents in S ...

, Ham played a key role in the formation of the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. He served as the Department's first chair, from 1958 to 1960. Within the Department of Anatomy, Ham assumed the Chair in 1965. Ham was married in 1981 to Lotta Dempsey Fisher, following the death of his first wife. Ham was widowed once again in 1988. The ninth edition of ''Histology''–known almost universally as ''Ham's Histology''–was published in 1987 by Ham jointly with David H. Cormack, Ph.D.

Notes

*Ham, A.W. and Ainsworth, M.D. Doctor in the making : the art of being a medical student. Philadelphia: Lippincott 1943. *Ham, A.W. and Cormack, D.H. Ham's Histology, 9th ed.. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1987.

External links

Obituary
from the Royal Society of Canada (PDF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Arthur 1902 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Canadian biologists Canadian anatomists Canadian male tennis players Histologists Racket sportspeople from Ontario Sportspeople from Brantford University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto