© 1979 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
The Striking Influence of the Leadership, Research, and Teaching of Frank R. Lillie (1870–1947) in Zoology, Embryology and Other Biological Sciences
Department of Genetics and Development and School of Basic Medical Sciences University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Dr. Frank R. Lillie, embryologist extraordinary, was uniquely invaluable in innumerable ways to zoologists, directly during his lifetime and indirectly thereafter. He excelled academically in teaching, research and administration at the University of Chicago. His research was masterfully planned, highly productive, exciting, and stimulating to many others and invariably opened up new and fundamental research areas for further exploration by others. He is most widely known for his vital leadership in development of the Marine Biological Laboratory during critical years of its survival and expansion. He was unanimously elected president of the National Academy of Sciences and chairman of the National Research Council, the first person to hold these two key positions simultaneously, and in addition was active in establishment of the Union of Biological Sciences responsible for publication of Biological Abstracts, establishment and administration of the National Research Council Fellowships in the biological sciences and in motivation of research in problems of sex, especially those concerned with the roles of sex hormones in sexual differentiation. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was established largely through his skill and labor and he served as president of its corporation from 1930 to 1939. His uniqueness resided in his capacity to function in a highly effective manner and often simultaneously in many key positions of responsibility and still function effectively as a highly personable and respected human being.