Dr. John Alfred Hammond, or John Parker Hammond (Trespasser canon), was the CEO and creator of Jurassic Park. He founded the company InGen and the Hammond Foundation. He had at least one daughter, two grandchildren (Tim and Lex Murphy), a sister (as Hammond's nephew has the surname of Ludlow, not Hammond) and a nephew, Peter Ludlow.
Background[]
Hammond has one sister and at least one daughter. His daughter had two kids, Lex and Tim, making him a grandfather. He also had a nephew named Peter Ludlow who is likely the son of his sister.
At some point, Hammond became business partners with Benjamin Lockwood. The two were good friends and they shared a dream of bringing back dinosaurs from extinction. In order to pursue this dream, Hammond and Lockwood used their respective fortunes and built a laboratory in the subbasement of Lockwood's home. They hired geneticist Dr. Henry Wu to aid them in the genetics work. They succeeded by the mid 1980s and together afterward created InGen, a genetics company whose goal was to continue development of cloning dinosaurs. Operations were then moved to Site B on Isla Sorna where the dinosaurs were bred and released into the wild for study.
Eventually the company also acquired Isla Nublar on which they built Jurassic Park, a zoological attraction intended for guests around the world to see dinosaurs up close. This was to complete Hammond and Lockwood's dream and also build up the funds for the massive expenses of cloning dinosaurs.
However, when Lockwood began intending to clone humans (eventually doing so with his deceased daughter) with the equipment capable of cloning dinosaurs, Hammond disagreed with his actions which he called "an unholy thing", while Lockwood was adamant in his aims. This led to the two falling out, with Hammond then running InGen by himself.
Films[]
Jurassic Park[]
- "Welcome to Jurassic Park!"
- —John Hammond's famous line(src)
In the film, John Alfred Hammond is a flamboyant venture capitalist from Scotland, building his fortune in Petticoat Lane, England. He also held parks in Kenya, Costa Rica, and other tropical locations.
The only similarities of the film's Hammond to the novel's Hammond are eccentricity and value for money but he is not as much of a dark character. While the novel's Hammond is cold, ruthless and in many ways the stereotypical businessman (i.e., uncaring about people, Machiavellian in his attempts to control his creation), the film's Hammond is affable and kind and is genuinely concerned about the well-being of his grandchildren and the other visitors as well as his employees at the park. He also cares about his dinosaurs at the same time, but understands the circumstances when the park fails. The novel's Hammond's personalities are seen instead in Donald Gennaro.
The turning point for film's Hammond is when Ellie Sattler bluntly tells him that he "never had control" and that the only thing that matters now is the survival of the people they love. Hammond is visibly struck by Ellie's words and spends the remainder of the film doing whatever he can to make sure that they all survive Jurassic Park. Unlike his novel appearance, John escapes Jurassic Park and agrees with Dr. Grant that the park was a failure and should not be endorsed, though he was understandably depressed about the failure.
Jurassic Park: The Game[]
Hammond does not physically appear in Jurassic Park: The Game, although his helicopter is briefly seen at the end of Episode 1. In the InGen Field Journal, it is revealed that he had replaced Dr. Laura Sorkin as InGen's lead geneticist with Henry Wu, as Wu's method of combining frog DNA sped up the cloning process.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park[]
- "You were right and I was wrong there, did you ever expect to hear me say such a thing?"
- —John Hammond to Ian Malcolm(src)
Four years after the Isla Nublar Incident, an ailing John resides in a mansion. He was fired as CEO of InGen and replaced by his nephew, Peter Ludlow. He had become a naturalist rather than continue being an industrialist. He was seen talking with Ian Malcolm about sending a team to Isla Sorna to document the animals. Ian becomes angry when John revealed that he had allowed his girlfriend Sarah Harding to go to Isla Sorna, but reluctantly goes. He is briefly seen in the San Diego Incident CNN broadcast saying that the dinosaurs should be left alone on Isla Sorna and ends with Ian's quote, "life will find a way."
Jurassic Park III[]
- "Now what John Hammond and InGen did at Jurassic Park, is create genetically-engineered, theme-park monsters, nothing more, and nothing less."
- —Alan Grant(src)
Hammond is only mentioned by Dr. Grant in a conference, with the former declaring he still did not agree with John's original intentions.
Death[]
John Hammond died shortly after the events of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In real life, Richard Attenborough died of natural causes on August 24, 2014, aged 90.
Legacy[]
Simon Masrani, CEO of the Masrani Global Corporation and son of Hammond's personal friend Sanjay Masrani, bought InGen in 1998. In 2005, a new dinosaur theme park opened on Isla Nublar: Jurassic World.
Jurassic World[]
Two decades after the original disaster, John Hammond's dream has finally come true in the form of a new fully-functional dinosaur park. The cloning facility on the island is named after Hammond: Hammond Creation Lab. Ever looking towards the future, his statue stands in the Innovation Center, before the entrance to the Hammond Creation Lab, in remembrance of his heart, passion and imagination.
Mansrani tells his employee Claire Dearing that Hammond entrusted him with his dying wish. When Claire tells Manrani that they have the highest structural enginieers, Mansrani saractically states "so did Hammond." When Mansrani berates Wu for the creation of the Indominus Rex and tells him to shut down all activity, he even mentions that Hammond wouldn't be there to protect him this time.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom[]
Three years later, when Claire goes to Lockwood Manor to meet with Lockwood, she sees a portrait of Hammond. Hammond is menitoned from time to time during the film. Benjamin Lockwood's employee and murderer Eli Mills eventually tells Owen, Claire and Maise that what drove Lockwood and Hammond apart was that Lockwood cloned his deceased daughter Maise, ultimately revealing that Maise was a clone of Lockwood's dceased daughter, and not Lockwood's granddaughter like he said she was.