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John Graham Kerr

Sir John Graham Kerr (18 September 1869 – 21 April 1957)^[1] was a Scottish embryologist and Unionist Member of Parliament (MP). He is best known for his studies of the embryology of lungfishes.^[2]

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Born in Hertfordshire to Scottish parents, Kerr was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and at the University of Edinburgh, but interrupted his medical studies to join an Argentinian expedition to study the natural history of the Pilcomayo. On his return, he studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge, graduating with first class honours in 1896. The Argentinian expedition had ended with the loss of most of the collections, but after graduating he mounted an expedition to the Gran Chaco, bringing home a large collection of material related to the South American lungfish, lepidosiren paradoxa.^[3]

After a spell as a Christ's College, Cambridge, he was appointed in 1902 as Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Glasgow (the post was renamed the following year as Regius Professor of Zoology). He was particularly interested in teaching medical students, and published widely. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1909, and received LLDs from the University of Edinburgh in 1935 and of University of St Andrews in 1950.^[4]

Kerr made early contributions to ship camouflage, advocating disruptive or dazzle camouflage (he called it parti-coloring), and openly supporting the controversial camouflage claims of American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer.

He was elected as MP for the Combined Scottish Universities at a by-election in 1935 after the MP and novelist John Buchan resigned his seat when he was appointed as Governor General of Canada.^[5] After his election to Parlaiment, Kerr resigned his professorship^[6], and moved to Hertfordshire. He held the seat until the university constituencies were abolished for the 1950 general election,^[7] serving for a time as for a time as chairman of the parliamentary scientific committee.^[4] He was knighted in the King's Birthday Honours in 1939^[8]^[9]

References

^ Historical list of MPs: S (part 2)
^ Kerr, Sir John Graham. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 8, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9045169
^ Who's Who in Glasgow 1909
^ ^a ^b Dictionary of National Biography: Kerr, Sir (John) Graham (1869–1957)
^ London Gazette Issue 34175 published on the 28 June 1935. Page 1 of 80
^ London Gazette Issue 34211 published on the 25 October 1935. Page 2 of 74
^ Craig, F. W. S. [1969] (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, 3rd edition, Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
^ London Gazette Issue 34633 published on the 6 June 1939. Page 2 of 24
^ London Gazette Issue 34646 published on the 18 July 1939. Page 2 of 104

Publications

A Textbook of Embryology with the Exception of Mammalia (1914–19)
Zoology for Medical Students (1921)
Evolution (1926)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Noel Skelton and George Morrison John Buchan	Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities with George Morrison, to 1943; Noel Skelton, to Nov 1935; Ramsay MacDonald, 1936–1937; Sir John Anderson, 1938–1950; John Boyd Orr, 1945–1946; Walter Elliot, 1946–1950 1935–1950	Succeeded by (constituency abolished)

Category: Embryologists

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "John_Graham_Kerr". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.