John Graham Kerr

Scottish embryologist of lungfishes

Sir John Graham Kerr (18 September 1869 – 21 April 1957) was a Scottish embryologist best known for his studies of the embryology of lungfishes. He was also a Unionist Member of Parliament (MP).

Kerr was born in Hertfordshire of Scottish parents. He was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and at the University of Edinburgh, but interrupted his medical studies to join an expedition in Argentina to study the natural history of the Pilcomayo River. Upon his return, he studied natural sciences at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours in 1896.


Although he lost collection of his Argentinian expedition,  he mounted another expedition to the Gran Chaco, bringing home a large collection of material related to the South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa. After some spell at Christ's College, Cambridge, he was appointed in 1902 as Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Glasgow. The post was renamed as Regius Professor of Zoology the following year.


John Kerr was interested in teaching medical students and also published widely. In 1909, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, receiving LLDs from the University of Edinburgh in 1935 and of University of St. Andrews in 1950.

Kerr made early contributions to ship camouflage, advocated disruptive or dazzle camouflage he called "parti-colouring."  He made early contributions to ship camouflage and openly supported the controversial camouflage claims of Abbott Handerson Thayer, an American artist.

At a by-election in 1935, Kerr resigned his professorship when he was elected to the Parliament as MP for the Combined Scottish Universities, after the MP and novelist John Buchan resigned his seat when he was appointed as Governor-General of Canada.  Sir John Kerr held the seat until the university constituencies were abolished for the 1950 general election, serving for a time as chairman of the parliamentary scientific committee.

In 1939, Sir John Graham Kerr was knighted in the King's Birthday Honours.

Resources:

• Kerr, Sir John Graham. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed September 18, 2011, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9045169


• John Graham Kerr in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge university Press, 10 vols, 1922-1958.


• Dictionary of National Biography: Kerr, Sir (John) Graham (1869–1957)


• The University of Glasgow Story.  Accessed Retrieved 18 September 2011.

Image Credit:

Sir John Graham Kerr. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed Feb 28, 2013.