biology

John D. Biggers

John D. Biggers is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John D. Biggers rather than just read about it. In short: John Dennis Biggers (; 1923 – April 7, 2018) was a British and American reproductive biologist and reproductive physiologist who helped pioneer in vitro fertilisation. He played a founding role in the scientific study of reproductive physiology, won many scientific awards for developing technology which would become central to human IVF, and engaged in public outreach regarding the ethics of artificial fertilisation.

Key takeaways

John D. Biggers belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John D. Biggers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John D. Biggers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Dennis Biggers (; 1923 – April 7, 2018) was a British and American reproductive biologist and reproductive physiologist who helped pioneer in vitro fertilisation. He played a founding role in the scientific study of reproductive physiology, won many scientific awards for developing technology which would become central to human IVF, and engaged in public outreach regarding the ethics of artificial fertilisation.

Early life and education Biggers was born in 1923 in Reading, Berkshire, to Wilfred Norman Biggers, a chemistry and physics teacher, and Winnifred Gardner, a British Airways employee. Biggers studied veterinary science at the Royal Veterinary College. He subsequently shifted his focus to mammalian physiology, in which he earned a Ph.D. from the University of London.

Development of IVF After completing his graduate education, Biggers first worked at the University of Sydney, then in 1955 moved to St John's College, Cambridge under a commonwealth fellowship, and from there became a senior lecturer at the Royal Veterinary College. While lecturing at University College London in 1958, he coauthored a landmark Nature paper with Dame Anne McLaren, which for the first time reported the successful development and birth of mice cultivated in vitro. Professor Henry Leese of Hull York Medical School, writing for the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, labelled this "one of the most significant papers in the history of reproductive biology and medicine", and this development is widely considered a crucial milestone towards in vitro fertilisation in humans. Biggers moved to the United States in 1959, working first at the University of Pennsylvania, moving to Johns Hopkins University in 1967, and finally becoming a professor at the Harvard Medical School in 1972. During this time, he worked on problems in embryo culture, embryo transfer, cryobiology, sperm preservation, and the statistics of experimental design. Biggers was a founding member and president of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, won several awards for his research from organizations like the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation, and authored more than 250 scientific papers. In addition to experimentation and mentoring, Biggers engaged publicly in ethical and policy advocacy regarding IVF technology. Howard W. Jones credited Biggers with providing critical support for the initiation of clinical IVF in the United States, which led to the first American baby being born by means of IVF. Biggers was regularly interviewed in the popular press on issues of reproductive ethics.

Notable Awards John Biggers received many awards and honors, the most notable being the Marshall Medal from the Society for the Study of Reproduction and the Pioneer Award from the International Embryo Technology Society.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John D. Biggers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John D. Biggers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John D. Biggers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John D. Biggers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John D. Biggers

In research: John D. Biggers appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John D. Biggers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John D. Biggers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 2018 deaths, 20th-century American biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John D. Biggers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John D. Biggers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John D. Biggers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John D. Biggers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John D. Biggers in simple terms?

Why does John D. Biggers matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John D. Biggers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John D. Biggers.