Kerr interrupted his medical studies to join an Argentinian expedition to study the natural history of the Pilcomayo River. On his return, he studied natural sciences at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours in 1896.[7] The Argentinian expedition had ended with the loss of most of the collections, but after graduating he mounted an expedition to the Gran Chaco, bringing home a large collection of material related to the South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa.[9] Kerr was accompanied by John Samuel Budgett, who studied the frogs of the area and discovered a new genus.[10][11]
After a period acting as Demonstrator in the Animal Morphology lectures at Christ's College, Cambridge (1898 to 1902), he was appointed in August 1902 as Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Glasgow replacing John Young.[12][13] Kerr stayed until 1935[8][14] when he was succeeded by Prof Edward Hindle. Kerr was particularly interested in teaching medical students, and published widely.
Kerr made early contributions to ship camouflage in the First World War. He wrote to First Lord of the AdmiraltyWinston Churchill on 24 September 1914, advocating camouflage by disruptive coloration — breaking up outlines with patches of strongly contrasting tone — and countershading — shading guns into invisibility with lighter paint below, darker paint above.[17] Kerr openly supported the controversial camouflage claims of American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer.[7] Kerr's aim was to make ships difficult to spot and fool range finders by disrupting their outlines, or in his own words "to destroy completely the continuity of outlines by splashes of white", to make ships harder to hit with gunfire at long range. Kerr's principle was applied to ships in various ways, but Kerr found it difficult to promote or control the use of his camouflage ideas, and they fell out of favour after Churchill's departure from the Admiralty. The Royal Navy reverted to plain grey. A rival proposal for disruptive camouflage emerged in 1917 from the marine artist Norman Wilkinson. Wilkinson, unlike Kerr, had little difficulty fitting in with the naval establishment, and was put in charge of a large-scale program of painting ships in disruptive patterns that became known as "Dazzle camouflage". After the war, Kerr engaged in an unsuccessful legal dispute over the credit for creating dazzle camouflage.[18] Wilkinson successfully promoted the false idea that Kerr's camouflage sought invisibility rather than image disruption.[17]
^Budgett J. S. (1899) Notes on the Batrachians of the Paraguayan Chaco, with observations upon their breeding habits and development, especially with regard to Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis, Cope. Also a description of a new genus. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Sciences 2 : 305–333.
^Kerr, J.G.(1950). A Naturalist in the Gran Chaco. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press
^"Appointment". The Times. No. 36850. London. 19 August 1902. p. 7.
^London Gazette Issue 34175 published on 28 June 1935. Page 1 of 80
^London Gazette Issue 34211 published 25 October 1935. Page 2 of 74
^Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN0-900178-06-X.
^London Gazette Issue 34633 published 6 June 1939. Page 2 of 24
^London Gazette Issue 34646 published 18 July 1939. Page 2 of 104