John Hammond

John Alfred Hammond is one of the key central characters featured in the Jurassic Park multimedia franchise. He was the main antagonist from the 1990 novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton where he was presented as an unethical, opportunistic businessman. The character was re-imagined for the 1993 Jurassic Park feature film by Steven Spielberg where he was played by actor Richard Attenborough. Attenborough's version of the character also made a brief appearance in the beginning of the 1997 sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The personalities and motivations of the character vary greatly between his presentation in the novel and the film interpretation.

Film version
John Hammond was a wealthy entrepreneur who originally hailed from Scotland. Relocating to England, he started his own Flea circus called Piccadilly Square. Although the patrons were impressed by the tiny motorized circus equipment, Hammond wanted to create something that was more than just illusion.

John Hammond became the CEO of a scientific research company called InGen. Through InGen, his wealth increased dramatically, and he believed in sparing no expense when it came to fulfilling his ambitions. John leased several islands off the cost of Costa Rica from the government and it was here that his greatest achievement was born. InGen scientists used DNA taken from dinosaur fossils and spliced them with DNA taken from various species of frogs to fill in the gene sequence gaps. From there, they were able to genetically clone dinosaurs. The original factory site was on an island named Isla Sorna, also known as Site B, which contained a large amphitheater. During the growth development of the first dinosaur clones, John abandoned the amphitheater and began construction of a biological preserve on Site A, Isla Nublar.

John's idea of a biological preserve manifested as a high-end amusement theme park called Jurassic Park. Sparing no expense, John hired the top scientific minds in order to bring his vision to life. As with any business however, Jurassic Park suffered from its share of setbacks. In addition to standard problems such as mechanical glitches and weather situations, one of John's workers was killed by a Velociraptor. The family of the worker sued InGen, which caused John's investors to grow increasingly nervous. Before the investors would agree to sign off on the park, they needed assurances from Hammond that this was a safe and viable enterprise. To facilitate this, they instructed their lawyer, Donald Gennaro to bring in non-biased professionals from the scientific community to analyze and author a testimonial to the safety of the island. While Gennaro brought in "rock star" chaotician Ian Malcolm, John recruited archaeologist Doctor Alan Grant and paleobotanist Doctor Ellie Satler.

John flew the four of them to Isla Nublar where they were all astounded to see actual living dinosaurs on the island. He gave them the nickel tour of the facility and even showed them the incubation laboratories where they were all treated to witness the birth of a Velociraptor. Whereas Donald Gennaro was at first reluctant to endorse Hammond's enterprise, he now saw only dollar signs and became his most staunch supporter. Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant and Ellie Satler however, had great reservations about the nature and seemingly lack of discipline in John's endeavors.

Due to the actions of an unscrupulous systems programmer named Dennis Nedry, the preview tour of Jurassic Park resulted in a major catastrophe. Having stolen some dinosaur embryos, Nedry deactivated all of the security protocols on the island so that he could affect his escape. This turned out poorly for Nedry, who was killed by a Dilophosaur before he could ever get off the island.

During this incident, John's grandchildren Lex and Tim had come to the island to visit and were outside with Grant, Malcolm, Satler, and Gennaro when the power went down. Hammond had his game warden, Robert Muldoon, take a gas-powered jeep out into the park to bring back his grandchildren.

Later, John Hammond brought Ian Malcolm (who had been injured in a Tyrannosaurus attack), Doctor Satler and computer programmer Ray Arnold to an emergency bunker. They shut down all of the power to the park to reboot the system, hoping that this would undo all of Dennis Nedry's interference. To complete this task however, they needed to trip the circuit breaker, which was located some distance from the bunker. When Ray Arnold failed to return, Robert Muldoon and Ellie Satler went out to finish the job. Hammond remained behind with Ian Malcolm to coordinate Doctor Satler's efforts via walkie talkies.

Through the course of all these events, Donald Gennaro and Robert Muldoon were both killed in dinosaur attacks. Doctor Grant, Doctor Satler, Ian Malcolm and Hammond's grandchildren all survived. Leaving the island aboard an emergency helicopter, Alan Grant sarcastically told Hammond that after careful consideration, he has decided not to endorse Jurassic Park. Hammond couldn't have agreed more.

As years passed, John continued to function in the best interests of InGen, but with a new-found, if misguided, respect for the world he had created. He came to realize that these dinosaurs should not be used for exploitation and profit, but should remain isolated, allowed to thrive in peace.

By 1997, John's health was in decline, as was his influence with InGen. The company no longer cared about Hammond's naturist approach to their investments and his own nephew led the charge to have Hammond removed as the CEO of InGen.

Hammond's nephew, who actively sought to reverse all of John's strategies, arranged a large expedition to Isla Sorna to capture as many dinosaurs as possible and rebuild Jurassic Park on the mainland. In an attempt to stop him, Hammond sent a small party, including a reluctant Ian Malcolm, to intercept them. Ultimately, the expedition was halted and Hammond was able to publicly advocate his idea to leave the dinosaurs in peace on the island.

Novel version
John Hammond is one of the primary antagonists of the novel. He is the owner of Jurassic Park and founder of InGen. According to the novel, his full name is John Alfred Hammond, but in a video game based on the film, he is referred to as John Parker Hammond. Though he is not modeled after anyone in particular, in an interview, Crichton explained that Hammond was like the "dark side of Walt Disney". He is portrayed as a cold, eccentric CEO interested only in making a profit and succeeding in creating dinosaurs. When rehearsing to Doctor Wu why he chose to spend his money on an amusement park rather than helping mankind, Hammond replied, "That's a terrible idea. A very poor use of new technology... helping mankind (is) a very risky business. Personally, I would never help mankind."

In the novel, Hammond takes little responsibility for the park or its failures and instead blames others for anything that goes wrong. He concludes that the people he selected as the park's senior staff have character flaws that prevent his vision for the park from being realized. During the events of the novel, he remains in the relative safety of the visitor's center, continuing to believe that he is in control, even as the situation around him grows exceedingly dire. When his grandchildren get lost in the park, he maintains his belief that order will soon be restored and that the children are in no real danger. Near the end of the novel, when the staff regains control of the park, he goes outside for a walk. He rationalizes the disaster in the cold manner of a corporate systems analyst, deciding that everything that has happened was merely a fluke and that next time he will do better, believing that he can use this catastrophe to solve any later problems. While he is out, however, he is startled by the sound of a T. rex roar, falls down a hill and breaks his ankle. He is unable to climb up the hill and is subsequently killed by a pack of Procompsognathus.