John Burns Brooksby
John Burns Brooksby CBE FRS FRSE (1914–1998) was a British veterinarian, animal physiologist and veterinary virologist. He was a recognised expert on Serology and especially Foot-and-mouth disease, and identified and categorised the majority of its known forms. His advice was taken on an international level, and he played a strong role in disease control both in Africa and the Middle East.
He is greatly responsible for the control of the spread of this disease at international level.[1]
Life
He was born on Christmas Day 1914 to George B Brooksby, an organ-builder in Glasgow and Elizabeth Brodie Burns. His mother was from a family of Renfrewshire farmers and John spent many childhood visits to his uncles farms who engendered a love of animals within him.[2]
He attended Hyndland Secondary School in Glasgow and then the Glasgow Veterinary College. He then completed at external BSc in Veterinary Science at London University whilst lecturing in histology at the college.
In 1936 he decided on a career in animal physiology and received a grant to study for three years. This he used to study at three separate centres of excellence on consecutive years: firstly University College, London; secondly McGill University in Montreal in Canada; and lastly Edinburgh University under Prof Francis Albert Eley Crew. However, once complete in 1939, his preferred field of animal reproduction offered no employment opportunities and instead he joined the Foot-and-Mouth Research Institute at Pirbright.[3]
He developed a methodology for diagnosing and typing foot-and-mouth disease which was thereafter adopted worldwide. Following a widespread epidemic in Mexico he developed an effective vaccination against the disease. His studies included the survival of the virus in meat, concluding that the virus made use of the animal meat non-viable, a major contributor to the widespread fear of the disease now felt in the farming community.
Brooksby became Deputy Director of the Pirbright Institute in 1957, and took complete control as Director in 1964. He served as Director for 16 years.[4] During this time he worked particularly on vaccines and further study on the potential for airborne spread of the disease. His research also extended into African swine fever and blue tongue viruses. He prepared the UK for an epidemic of swine vesicular disease, stemming from Italy and Hong Kong and halted it in its tracks in 1972 due to appropriate immunisation.[5]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1968 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1970.
In 1973 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.[6]
He died on 17 December 1998 at Swaffham Bulbeck near Cambridge shortly before his 84th birthday.
Publications
- The Anti-bodies in Foot-and-Mouth Disease (1949)
- Studies of the Complement-Fixation Reaction in Virus Systems (1953)
Plus many dozens of papers to the Royal Society and other bodies: see[7]
Family and private life
Brooksby married Muriel Weir, one of his Glasgow students, on 18 December 1940. They had two children, Elspeth and Iain.
He had developed a keen love of art from his mother and was a member of the Farnham Art Society, selling several pictures. On retirement he moved to Cambridgeshire with Muriel. Here he joined a painting class in Grantchester and exhibited there.
He was also a keen golfer and gardener.
References
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- ↑ http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/roybiogmem/53/77.full.pdf
- ↑ http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/obits_alpha/brooksby_john.pdf
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/roybiogmem/53/77.full.pdf
- ↑ http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
- ↑ http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/roybiogmem/suppl/2009/05/01/53.0.77.DC1/rsbm20070002.pdf