John Donald Currey

John Donald Currey (9 August 1932 – 18 December 2018), was a British zoologist who lectured at the University of York where he specialised in the biomechanics of mineralised tissues such as bone.[1][2][3][4][5]

Early life

He was born in Scunthorpe in 1932 and later the family moved to Pickwick, Wiltshire. He went to St Edward's School, Oxford, completed his National service before reading Zoology at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first in 1956.[6] After graduation he served as a whaling inspector in the Antarctic on board the whaling ship Southern Harvester.[1]

Career

He worked as a demonstrator in the Zoology department at Oxford and completed his Ph.D. in 1961. He moved to the new Biology department at York University in 1964. He spent a year in 1969 at the Veterans Administration Hospital and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. In 1970 he returned to York as a Professor. Although his main area of research was the mechanics of bone, he also studied the snail Cepaea.[7] He was head of the Department of Biology from 1984–1990, after which he became Deputy Vice Chancellor. He retired in 1999 and was named as Professor Emeritus.[1][5]

He was one of the first to point out that diffuse damage and microcracks can help make the bone stronger. “When bone starts to break thousands of little microcracks form. These microcracks are positioned sensibly in relation to the histological structure of the bone, but we don’t know where they form in relation to the ultrastructure. Typically when microcracks form they only reach a few microns in length before they come to a halt. The big question is, what brings them to a halt?”.[4]

In 2013 the European Society of Biomechanics awarded him the Huiskes Medal for Biomechanics.[8] He published over one hundred papers between 1959 and 2017.[9][10]

Personal life

He married Jillian Vine in 1960 and they had two boys and a girl.[1]

Books
  • Animal Skeletons (1970). John D. Currey. Institute of Biology. Studies in biology: no. 22. New York, St. Martin's Press
  • Mechanical Design in Organisms (1982). Stephen A. Wainwright, W. D. Biggs, John D. Currey. Princeton University Press
  • The Mechanical Adaptations of Bones (1984). John D. Currey. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691612171
  • Bones: Structure and Mechanics (2002). John D. Currey. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691128047

References
  1. Fleck, Claudia (2019). "In memoriam – John D. Currey, 1932–2018". Journal of Biomechanics. 84: 1–3. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Elsevier.
  2. "Remembering John D Currey 1932-2018". European Society of Biomechanics. 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "In Memory of John Currey". York Unlimited. 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Professor John D Currey". Department of Biology University of York. Retrieved 6 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. Williamson, Mark; White, David, eds. (2013). A History of the first fifty years of Biology at York (PDF). UK: University of York. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  6. "University News". Times. 23 June 1956. p. 10. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  7. "Snail shells reflect changes in climate". Times. 29 May 1968. p. 16. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  8. "The Huiskes Medal for Biomechanics". European Society of Biomechanics. Retrieved 6 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. Burr, David; Zaslansky, Paul; Fleck, Claudia (2020). "Celebrating John D. Currey's Contributions to the Science of Bone". Bone. Special issue. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Science Direct.
  10. "J D Currey's research while affiliated with New York University and other places". Research Gate. Retrieved 6 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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