Kenneth Blaxter (animal nutritionist)
Sir Kenneth Lyon Blaxter | |
---|---|
Born | 19 June 1919 Rowett Research Institute |
Spouse | Mildred Blaxter |
Biography
Early life
Blaxter was born on 19 June 1919 in Sprowston, England and grew up in Norfolk.[1] His father made handicrafts and his mother came from a family of farm workers.[1] Blaxter studied at the City of Norwich School until 1936. He was bored in school and received poor grades.[1] As a teenager, Blaxter spent his spare time at the Norfolk Agricultural Station, a short distance from the family home.[3] Soon after, he enrolled in day classes in agriculture at the Norfolk County Council, winning the class prize for the highest mark.[3] He also worked as a farmhand on a farm in Hoveton.[3]
Blaxter studied agriculture, biology and botany at the University of Reading in 1936, graduating in 1939.[1][3]
Nutrition research
After graduating, Blaxter worked at the National Institute for Research in Dairying (NIRD), located in
Work as an independent scientist
In 1947, after returning to England, Blaxter applied for the headship of the Nutrition Department at the Hannah Dairy Research Institute in
In 1965, Blaxter was appointed director of the
Retirement
Blaxter retired from the Rowett Research Institute in 1982.
Honours and awards
Blaxter was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1967[8] and was knighted in 1977.[5]
From 1972 to 1975, he served as vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,[9] and acted as its president from 1979 to 1982.[3] He also served a three-year term in the 1980s as President of the Institute of Biology.
In 1979, he received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture for his research into the nutritional requirements of ruminants.[6]
In 1992, he was posthumously awarded the
Blaxter was also the recipient of
Personal life
Blaxter married sociologist Mildred Hall in 1957;[5] they had three children together.[5] Blaxter's cousin was Mary Lyon, the well-known British geneticist.[11] Blaxter was also an avid amateur painter.[3]
Legacy
Blaxter was influential in the fields of animal and human nutrition and animal husbandry.[3] In Blaxter's memory, the British Society of Animal Science grants an annual scholarship, entitled the Kenneth Blaxter Award, to a deserving member of the Society in order to pursue short-term research in the animal sciences.[12]
Bibliography
- The maintenance of the winter milk supply in wartime, Ph.Dthesis (1944)
- Food, People and Resources (1986)[3]
- Energy Metabolism in Animals and Man (1988)[3]
- The Post-war Revolution in Food Production (1989)[3]
References
- ^
- ^ D. G. Armstrong, ‘Blaxter, Sir Kenneth Lyon (1919–1991)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2012 accessed 15 May 2013
- ^ S2CID 73231032.
- ^ https://docslib.org/doc/3425568/
- ^ a b c d Popay, Jennie (21 September 2010). "Mildred Blaxter obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ^ a b "Sir Kenneth Blaxter Winner of Wolf Prize in Agriculture – 1979". Wolf Foundation. 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ^ The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ^ a b "Directors". University of Aberdeen. 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ^ "Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
- ^ "Prizes awarded by the Human and Animal Nutrition and Crop Husbandry Fund". The Rank Prize Funds. c. 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- PMID 20107603.
- ^ "Kenneth Blaxter Award". British Society of Animal Science. 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.