Abstract
THE appointment of Mr. John Buchan as Governor-General of Canada necessitates a by-election for a representative of the Scottish universities in the House of Commons. We are very glad to see that Prof. J. Graham Kerr, regius professor of zoology in the University of Glasgow, has been adopted as a candidate by the Unionist Association of the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and St. Andrews. It would be difficult to find a man of science who could more worthily represent the Scottish universities in Parliament than Prof. Kerr. He combines long experience of the teaching and administrative sides of these universities with wide scientific interests and a high position in the political field, being president of the Scottish Unionist Association, chairman of the Glasgow Unionist Association, and holding similar offices in other Unionist organisations. Prof. Kerr's election to Parliament would involve considerable self-sacrifice, for it would mean the giving up of the life tenure of his chair of regius professor of zoology in the University of Glasgow. In these days, when the whole of our communal existence is permeated by science and its applications, it is the duty of scientific workers to take an active part in shaping the destinies of the nation by promoting the election into the House of Commons of representatives having scientific knowledge and outlook. At present there is not a single fellow of the Royal Society in the House of Commons, and if, as we hope and expect, the Scottish universities return Prof. Graham Kerr as their member, they will be rendering a notable service to science and the nation.
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Prof. Graham Kerr and Parliamentary Representation. Nature 135, 919 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135919a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135919a0