John Carl Ross (also known as Johan Carel Ross) was the son of Donald Daniel Ross and Johanna Maria Smith. He attended the Boys' High School at Sea Point, Cape Town, and passed the matriculation examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1908. Continuing his studies at the South African College, Cape Town, he received the college's gold medal in science in 1911 and that same year was awarded the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree with honours in chemistry by the university. During 1912-1913 he was a lecturer in chemistry at the recently established Grootfontein Agricultural School at Middelburg, Eastern Cape. In 1913 he went to the United States and was awarded the degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by the University of Illinois. In 1918 he was appointed as research chemist at the School of Agriculture at Elsenburg, near Stellenbosch. By 1921 he was a member of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Transvaal University College (from 1930 the University of Pretoria), where he remained until at least 1938. In that year he and J.J. Theron wrote Soil fertility studies in the summer rainfall areas of the Union of South Africa (University of Pretoria, Faculty of Agriculture, 1938, 20 pp). Later he became a member of the inspectorate in the Department of Education of the Cape Provincial Administration, a position he held until 1946.

Ross seems to have been interested mainly in the chemistry of nutrition. In 1917 he published a paper on 'The place of protein in nutrition' in the South African Journal of Science (Vol. 14, pp. 350-354). Later he and A.M. Bosman wrote 'Digestibility of teff hay for sheep' (Publications of the University of Pretoria, Series 1: Agriculture, 1927, No. 10). The same authors, with the addition of L.P. van Wyk, followed this up with 'Digestibility of teff hay, maize oil cake and lucerne hay for cattle' (Ibid, 1931, No. 20).

Ross became a member of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1917 and of the South African Chemical Institute in 1918. He was still a member of the latter in 1958, living in Pretoria. In 1921 he married Mona Hugo.

List of sources:

FamilySearch: John Carl Ross, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JN5K-NM8?lang=en AND Johan Carel Ross, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/GGYN-GTH

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ , publications by J.C. Ross.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS), at http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to J.C. Ross.

Ritchie, W. The history of the South African College, 1829-1918. Cape Town: T. Maskew Miller, 1918.

South African Chemical Institute. Proceedings and list of members, 1921/2 and 1933/4; List of members, 1958.

South African Journal of Science, 1917, Vol. 14, paper by Ross; 1918, Vol. 15, list of members [of the SA Association for the Advancement of Science].

University of Pretoria. List of publications, Series 1, Agriculture (n.d.)

University of the Cape of Good Hope. Calendar, 1909/10 to 1917/8.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-10-24 15:17:36