Kenneth Blaxter (animal nutritionist)

{{Short description|British animal nutritionist (1919–1991)}} {{other people|Kenneth Blaxter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Sir Kenneth Lyon Blaxter | image =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 19 June 1919 | birth_place = Sprowston, England | death_date = 18 April 1991 (aged 71) | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Agriculturalist, biologist, researcher | years_active = 1948–1991 | known_for = directing the Rowett Research Institute | spouse = Mildred Blaxter | notable_works = }} '''Sir Kenneth Lyon Blaxter''' FRS PRSE FIBiol (19 June 1919 – 18 April 1991) was an English animal nutritionist.<ref name="rs">Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 39: 36. {{doi|10.1098/rsbm.1994.0003|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>D. G. Armstrong, 'Blaxter, Sir Kenneth Lyon (1919–1991)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2012 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49583, accessed 15 May 2013]</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Early life === Blaxter was born on 19 June 1919 in Sprowston, England and grew up in Norfolk.<ref name="rs" /> His father made handicrafts and his mother came from a family of farm workers.<ref name="rs" /> Blaxter studied at the City of Norwich School until 1936. He was bored in school and received poor grades.<ref name="rs" /> As a teenager, Blaxter spent his spare time at the Norfolk Agricultural Station, a short distance from the family home.<ref name="jstor">{{Cite journal | title = Kenneth Lyon Blaxter | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society| volume = 39| jstor = 770168| pages=36–58| last1 = Waterlow| first1 = J. C.| last2 = Armstrong| first2 = D. G.| year = 1994| doi=10.1098/rsbm.1994.0003| doi-access=free| s2cid = 73231032}}</ref> Soon after, he enrolled in day classes in agriculture at the Norfolk County Council, winning the class prize for the highest mark.<ref name="jstor" /> He also worked as a farmhand on a farm in Hoveton.<ref name="jstor" />

Blaxter studied agriculture, biology and botany at the University of Reading in 1936, graduating in 1939.<ref name="rs" /><ref name="jstor" />

=== Nutrition research ===

After graduating, Blaxter worked at the National Institute for Research in Dairying (NIRD), located in Shinfield.<ref name="jstor" /> With the onset of World War II, Blaxter was conscripted and served with the 10th Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery from spring 1940 to the end of 1941, when he returned to NIRD.<ref name="jstor" /> At this time, he began to write his Ph.D thesis, entitled ''The maintenance of the winter milk supply in wartime''; he completed the thesis in 1944.<ref name="jstor" /> Shortly thereafter, he requested to be seconded to the biochemistry department of the Ministry of Agriculture in Weybridge, where he conducted blood analysis and researched lead toxicity in ruminants.<ref name="jstor" /> In 1946, Blaxter moved to Illinois to work with animal nutritionist Harold Mitchell at the University of Illinois.<ref name="jstor" />

=== 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 Ayr, Scotland<ref name="rs" /> and received the position in 1948.<ref name="jstor" /> During his tenure at the Hannah Dairy Research Institute, Blaxter wrote over 200 papers,<ref name="jstor" /> focusing primarily on the issues of energy metabolism and feed usage by ruminants.<ref name="jstor" /> Blaxter also investigated nutritional diseases and magnesium deficiency in calves, the effect of temperature and other environmental effects on sheep, and ruminant digestion and feed intake.<ref name="jstor" /> From 1954 he was assisted by Dr David Gilford Armstrong.<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Armstrong Was Born in Whitley Bay on 9Th July 1926 and Died Suddenly at His Home in Ponteland, Near Newcastle- Upon-Tyne on 8Th February 2000 |url=https://docslib.org/doc/3425568/%5B%E2%80%8D%5D |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=Docslib |language=en}}</ref>

In 1965, Blaxter was appointed director of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland.<ref name="guardian" /><ref name="wolf">{{cite web |url=http://www.wolffund.org.il/index.php?dir=site&page=winners&cs=269 |title=Sir Kenneth Blaxter Winner of Wolf Prize in Agriculture – 1979 |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date=2015 |website=Wolf Foundation |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref> There, Blaxter and his team of researchers studied topics of importance to the Scottish farmer,<ref name="jstor" /> including deer farming, llamas,<ref name="glasgow">{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19880615&id=6TNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T1kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5530,3964864 |title=Institute Marks 75 Years of Research |last1=Smith |first1=Graeme |date=15 June 1988 |website=Google News |publisher=The Glasgow Herald |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref> human nutrition,<ref name="aberdeen" /> feed evaluation, environmental stress and animal calorimetry.<ref name="jstor" /> He also took an interest in agriculture and worldwide food policy, culminating in the publication of a book, ''Food, People and Resources'', in 1986.<ref name="jstor" />

=== Retirement ===

Blaxter retired from the Rowett Research Institute in 1982.<ref name="glasgow" /> From 1985 to 1991, Blaxter was a visiting professor in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne's Department of Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition. He also chaired a committee of the federal Department of the Environment and the Cabinet Committee on Individual Merit Promotion, a body that recognized and awarded candidates from various scientific fields.<ref name="jstor" /> He died on 18 April 1991 of a brain tumour.<ref name="rs" />

== Honours and awards ==

Blaxter was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1967<ref name="aberdeen">{{cite web |url=http://www.abdn.ac.uk/rowett-centenary/history/directors.php |title=Directors |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date=2015 |website=University of Aberdeen |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref> and was knighted in 1977.<ref name="guardian" />

From 1972 to 1975, he served as vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 |date=July 2006 |website=Royal Society of Edinburgh |access-date=May 30, 2015 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919152306/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf }}</ref> and acted as its president from 1979 to 1982.<ref name="jstor" /> 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.<ref name="wolf" />

In 1992, he was posthumously awarded the Rank Prize in Nutrition for his lifetime contributions to nutrition science.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rankprize.org/index.php/prizes/nutrition |title=Prizes awarded by the Human and Animal Nutrition and Crop Husbandry Fund |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date=c. 2012 |website=The Rank Prize Funds |access-date=15 February 2015}}</ref>

Blaxter was also the recipient of honorary doctorates from Queen's University in Belfast, the Agricultural University in Norway, the University of Leeds, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Newcastle.<ref name="jstor" />

== Personal life ==

Blaxter married sociologist Mildred Hall in 1957;<ref name="guardian">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/21/mildred-blaxter-obituary-sociologist |title=Mildred Blaxter obituary |last1=Popay |first1=Jennie |date=21 September 2010 |website=The Guardian |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref> they had three children together.<ref name="guardian" /> Blaxter's cousin was Mary Lyon, the well-known British geneticist.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gitschier |first=Jane |date=22 January 2010 |title=The Gift of Observation: An Interview with Mary Lyon |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=6 |issue=1 |article-number= e1000813|doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000813 |pmid=20107603 |pmc=2809768 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Blaxter was also an avid amateur painter.<ref name="jstor" />

== Legacy ==

Blaxter was influential in the fields of animal and human nutrition and animal husbandry.<ref name="jstor" /> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsas.org.uk/about-bsas/funds-awards-jobs/kenneth-blaxter-award/ |title=Kenneth Blaxter Award |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date=2015 |website=British Society of Animal Science |access-date=15 February 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215183343/http://www.bsas.org.uk/about-bsas/funds-awards-jobs/kenneth-blaxter-award/ }}</ref>

== Bibliography ==

* ''The maintenance of the winter milk supply in wartime'', Ph.D thesis (1944) * ''Food, People and Resources'' (1986)<ref name="jstor" /> * ''Energy Metabolism in Animals and Man'' (1988)<ref name="jstor" /> * ''The Post-war Revolution in Food Production'' (1989)<ref name="jstor" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaxter, Kenneth}} Category:1919 births Category:1991 deaths Category:British fellows of the Royal Society Category:Animal nutritionists Category:British nutritionists Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Animal health in England Category:Wolf Prize in Agriculture laureates Category:People from Sprowston Category:Alumni of the University of Reading Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Royal Artillery soldiers Category:Military personnel from Norfolk Category:Presidents of The Nutrition Society