Lillie, Frank R.

Lillie, Frank R. (Rattray)

(1870–1947) embryologist; born in Toronto, Canada. He came to the U.S.A. to complete his graduate studies (1891). He taught and performed research at the University of Michigan (1894–99), Vassar College (1899–1900), and the University of Chicago (1900–35). He concurrently served the Woods Hole (Mass.) Marine Biology Laboratory as a researcher and administrator (1893–1942); he developed its Oceanographic Institution and became the institution's first director (1930–39). His major contributions include studies of fertilization in ova of marine organisms, classical investigations of chick embryo morphogenesis, definitive explanations of the development of hormonally-induced freemartinism in heterosexual cattle twins, and developmental research on feather regeneration in poultry. He was the only person to hold simultaneously the presidencies of the National Academy of Science and the National Research Council (1935–36).