John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, CH DSO MC FRS FRSE (23 September 1880 – 25 June 1971), styled Sir John Boyd Orr from 1935 to 1949, was a Scottish teacher, medical doctor, biologist, nutritional physiologist, politician, businessman and farmer who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his scientific research into nutrition and his work as the first Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

[8] John Boyd Orr was born at Kilmaurs, near Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, the middle child in a family of seven children.

His father, Robert Clark Orr, was a quarry owner, and a man of deep religious convictions, being a member of the Free Church of Scotland.

[9] The family home was well supplied with books, and his father was widely read in political, sociological and metaphysical subjects, as well as religion.

Religion was then an important part of junior education in Scotland, and the school gave him a good knowledge of the Bible, which stayed with him for the rest of his life.

His family cut short his education at the academy because, at the expense of his school attendance, he was spending time with the quarry workers, who let him work the machinery, and from whom he picked up a "wonderful vocabulary of swear words".

This was a particularly demanding time for the young Boyd Orr, as in addition to his teaching duties, and studying at home for his university entrance and teacher-training qualifications, he also had to work every day in his father's business.

[10] After four years as a pupil-teacher, at the age of 19, he won a Queen's Scholarship to study at a teacher training college in Glasgow, plus a bursary which paid for his lodgings there.

[11] Boyd Orr criticised the university course because the hard work required to pass the exams did not allow sufficient time to meet and to discuss with students of different social backgrounds.

[12] After working for a few months in his father's business, he taught for three years at Kyleshill School in Saltcoats, also a poor area, but less squalid than the slums of Glasgow.

Boyd Orr needed to augment his teacher's salary, and decided to do so by instructing an evening class in book-keeping and accountancy.

He was impressed by Samson Gemmell, Professor of Clinical Medicine,[13] a philosopher whose deep thinking on social affairs also influenced Boyd Orr's approach to such questions.

Reluctant to ask his family for support, he bought a block of tenanted flats on mortgage, with the help of a bank overdraft, and used the rents to pay for the rest of his studies.

Realising that a career in medicine was not for him, he instead accepted the offer of a two-year Carnegie research scholarship, to work in E. P. Cathcart's laboratory.

On the outbreak of the First World War he was given leave to join the British Army, and asked his former colleague E. P. Cathcart to help him obtain a medical commission in an infantry unit overseas.

His courage under fire and devotion to duty were recognised by the award of a Military Cross after the Battle of the Somme, and of the Distinguished Service Order after Passchendaele.

[20] Worried that he was losing touch with medical and nutritional advances, he asked to be transferred to the navy, where he thought he would have more time available for reading and research.

He spent a busy three months in the naval hospital at Chatham, studying hard while practicing medicine in the wards, before being posted to HMS Furious.

Indeed, even his plans for the annual maintenance grant had to be approved by the Professor of Agriculture in Cambridge, Thomas Barlow Wood.

After the Second World War, Boyd Orr resigned from the Rowett Institute, and took several posts, most notably as Director-General of the United Nations' new Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

[31][32][33] He then resigned from the FAO and became director of a number of companies and proved a canny investor in the stock market, making a considerable personal fortune.

[34][35] In 1960 Boyd Orr was elected the first president of the World Academy of Art and Science, which was set up by eminent scientists of the day concerned about the potential misuse of scientific discoveries, most especially nuclear weapons.

[38][39] As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.