Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr.

Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. was an American mammalogist, bacteriologist, and pathologist. He was born into a military family, and demonstrated an early interest in zoology by collecting local wildlife around his fathers army posts. He graduated from Brown University in 1897, and continued his studies at George Washington University while working parttime at the United States National Museum . At the same time, he taught at Howard University Medical School and later George Washington University Medical School. He received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1913. In 1919, he and his wife, Martha, moved to South Bend, Indiana to join a newly opened clinic. Prior to moving, Lyon had published many papers on mammalogy, both during and after his tenure at the USNM. In these papers, he had formally described six species, three genera, and one family. Once in South Bend, he began to publish medical studies, too, but continued his work in mammalogy, with a particular focus on the local f

Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. was born on February 5, 1875 in Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. His family included his father, Captain Marcus Ward Lyon, Sr. his mother, Lydia Anna Lyon and his two brothers, Henry S. Lyon and James W. Lyon. Because of his fathers military career, Lyons family moved across the United States throughout his childhood and adolescence. The first hint of the young Lyons future scientific interests came while they were stationed at Watertown Arsenal, near Boston, Massachusetts, where he began collecting insects and animals from the local area. No other details of his early life were documented until 1893, when he graduated from Rock Island High Schoolhis father had evidently been restationed at Rock Island Arsenal at about this time. He attended Brown University and completed his Ph.B. in 1897, which included training in biology. In 1898, he began his graduate studies at George Washington University, obtaining his M.S. in 1900, his M.D. in 1902, and his Ph.D. in 1913.

Source: Wikipedia