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Francis Joseph Ryan (February 1, 1916 – July 14, 1963) was an American zoologist. He was professor and chair of Columbia University's department of zoology.

Biography

Ryan was born on February 1, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1937 and his Ph.D. in 1941. He then joined the faculty and eventually became assistant professor, associate professor, full professor and department head. He was a mentor of future Nobel Prize winner Joshua Lederberg, who credited Ryan for "taking a callow underclassman from Washington Heights, brash and argumentative as precocious students often are, and turned into a scientist."

Ryan's research focused on a variety of fields, including experimental embryology, microbial genetics, and he did research on escherichia coli to understand how information about an organism is imprinted in its genetic structure. His work during the 1950s also disproved the theories of Trofim Lysenko that evolutionary changes are initiated by the environment.

Ryan received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950. He was also a Fulbright Professor at the University of Tokyo in 1955–1956, during which he also served as a consultant to Japanese microbiologists in industry and universities. He held visiting professorships and fellowships at the Pasteur Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Ryan was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1960. He was also a trustee of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Ryan died of a heart attack on July 14, 1963, at 47 years old.

References

1. "Francis Joseph Ryan 1916-1963". The American Naturalist. 98 (902): 258–259. 1964-09-01. doi:10.1086/an.98.902.2459453. ISSN 0003-0147.
2. ^ "DR. FRANCIS RYAN, ZOOLOGIST, DEAD; Columbia Scientist Probed Secrets of Smallest Life Consultant in Japan". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
3. "Francis J. Ryan's application for fellowship at the John Simon Memorial Guggenheim Foundation - Digital Collections - National Library of Medicine". collections.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
4. "Dr. Francis J. Ryan at work at Columbia University". Joshua Lederberg - Profiles in Science. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
5. "Features: Nobel prose". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
6. "Francis J. Ryan". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
7. "Francis Joseph Ryan". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-06-23.

• 1916 births
• 1963 deaths
• Columbia College (New York) alumni
• Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
• 20th-century American biologists
• 20th-century American zoologists
• Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Scientists from Brooklyn
• Academic staff of the University of Tokyo