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“CONGRATULATION TO DR. LAWRENCE A. JOHNSON UPON HIS RETIREMENT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1643 on July 22, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CONGRATULATION TO DR. LAWRENCE A. JOHNSON UPON HIS RETIREMENT
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HON. DAVID R. OBEY
of wisconsin
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 22, 1999
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the career of a longtime public servant, Dr. Lawrence A. Johnson, a leading researcher and international authority in the field of artificial insemination and semen physiology and preservation in swine.
Dr. Johnson, was born and raised on a livestock farm in Luck, Wisconsin, in the heart of western Wisconsin's dairy country in my district. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin at River Falls in 1961, he received his Master's from the University of Minnesota in St. Paul in 1963, and was awarded his doctorate by the University of Maryland in 1968.
Thirty-five years ago, in 1964, Dr. Johnson began his career with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, first as a chemist with the Swine Research Branch, and later as Research Physiologist with the Reproduction Laboratory. He became Research Leader of the Germplasm and Gamete Physiology Laboratory when it was created in 1991. He also served for two years as Visiting Scientist at the Research Institute for Animal production in the Netherlands.
With Dr. V.G. Pursel, Dr. Johnson developed the Beltsville Freezing and Thawing Method for preserving swine sperm. This method has been commercially used for cryopreservation of boar semen since 1975 and it has been used for the exportation of the highest quality genetics to upgrade swine production in more than 40 countries throughout the world. Subsequently , Dr. Johnson initiated collaborative studies with Dutch which led to the Beltsville TS Semen Diluent becoming the primary swine semen diluent throughout the world, currently used in 12 to 15 million inseminations worldwide each year. More recently, his research led to the development of the only effective method to control the sex ratio of mammalian offspring, considered a major advance in reproductive biology, which has brought him world recognition as an authority on gender preselection. In 1993, Dr. Johnson and his colleagues successfully adapted the sexing technology to be used for disease prevention in humans.
Dr. Johnson has authored or co-authored more than 265 scientific papers, book chapters and abstracts, and he has presented 75 papers at various international symposia and meetings. His numerous awards have included the Alexander von Humboldt Award in 1994 for the ``most significant accomplishment in American Agriculture in the previous five years'', and, in the same year, he was recognized as the Distinguished ARS Scientist for the Year. Dr. Johnson's work has also been recognized in countries throughout the world from the Netherlands to Japan.
Upon his retirement from government service, Dr. Johnson will be returning to his home state of Wisconsin. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for his years of government service, and wish him well in his future endeavors.
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