Spencer, John H.

John Spencer was born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, England, on April 10, 1933. Dr. Spencer received his B.Sc. from St. Andrews University (Scotland) in Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1955, and earned his B.Sc. (Hons.) in Biochemistry from the same institution in 1956. In 1960 he received his PhD in Biochemistry from McGill University in Montreal, and conducted post-doctoral studies there, and at Columbia University, from 1959 to 1961. John H. Spencer began his teaching career at Queen's University in 1978 as a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, serving as Head of that department until 1990. Prior to his tenure at Queen's University, Dr. Spencer taught at McGill University in Montreal from 1961 to 1978. He was the recipient of several Fellowships as a post-doctoral student. In 1987-88 Dr. Spencer was a visiting scientist, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, at Bethesda, Maryland, and was Professor Invite, Department de Biochimie, Université de Montreal from 1992-93. Dr. Spencer was a member of numerous science-oriented societies and organizations (including the Canadian Biochemical Society, Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sigma Xi, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Canada, among others), served on dozens of committees, acted as a reviewer for journals, graduate studies programmes and granting agencies, supervised many graduate and doctoral students, and received several awards. He is author and co-author of over 100 articles, abstracts, and chapters, and has published two books: The Physics and Chemistry of DNA and RNA (1972), and Planet Earth: Problems and Prospects (co-ed. 1995). Spencer was a frequent speaker at biochemical symposia around the world, and was considered one of the pioneers in developing methodology for DNA sequence analysis, whereby genetic information from DNA can be read directly. In 1989 Dr. Spencer was nominated for a Nobel Prize for his research work. Dr. Spencer retired from the Department of Biochemistry in 1998 but maintained his ties with Queen's University as Professor Emeritus. He passed away in Kingston in 2012.