Lord Boyd Orr
Boyd Orr, Lord (1880-1971), a Scottish nutritional physiologist, devoted nearly four decades to the field of nutrition. For his efforts to promote lasting peace by wiping out hunger, he was awarded the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize.
While he was studying theology at the University of Glasgow, John Boyd Orr enrolled in several science courses and decided to become a science teacher. After he graduated in 1902, he taught for a few years. He then returned to the University of Glasgow for a medical degree.
In 1913, Boyd Orr was appointed director of Animal Nutrition Research at the University of Aberdeen. He left to serve as a doctor, first in the British army and then in the navy during World War I (1914-1918). In 1915, he married Elizabeth Pearson Callum. After the war, Orr returned to Aberdeen, where he established the Rowett Research Institute, an institute for nutritional studies. He served as its director from 1918-1945.
Boyd Orr's demonstration of the importance of milk consumption to children's health led the British government to pass legislation providing free or inexpensive milk to all schoolchildren in Scotland. Boyd Orr's human nutrition studies during the 1930's revealed that a significant portion of the British population was severely malnourished. During World War II (1939-1945), the British government adopted many of Boyd Orr's recommendations in the course of establishing a national food policy. Boyd Orr also met with U.S. government officials to discuss development of a world food policy.
From 1945 to 1948, Boyd Orr served as the first director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He was knighted in 1935 and made a baron in 1949. Boyd Orr was the author of Feeding the People in War Time (1940). After winning the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize, he continued his fight against world hunger and wrote books.