Background
Bryan Patterson was the son of the soldier, engineer and author John Henry Patterson and Frances Gray Patterson, who was one of the first to receive a law degree granted to a woman in the British Isles.
Bryan Patterson was the son of the soldier, engineer and author John Henry Patterson and Frances Gray Patterson, who was one of the first to receive a law degree granted to a woman in the British Isles.
Student Malvern College, England, 1923-1926, University of Chicago, 1927-1933. Master of Arts (honorary), Harvard University, 1955.
He moved in 1926 to the Hyde Park area of Chicago, Illinois. Upon his arrival in Chicago, Bryan assumed a position as vertebrate preparator at the Field Museum of Natural History. He worked under the direction of Elmer South. Riggs, who was at that time engaged in studies of South American Tertiary mammals.
By self-education he rose rapidly in rank, and by 1937 became curator of paleontology.
He became an American citizen in 1938. He served in Europe with the United States. Army 1st Infantry Division during World World War II and was taken prisoner by the Germans.
In 1947 he was appointed lecturer in geology at the University of Chicago, in parallel to his work at the Museum. As a recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships he spent the years of 1952-1954 in Argentina studying the great collections amassed by the Ameghino brothers.
In 1958 he returned to Argentina with Professor Alfred South. Romer, but this time for field work in the Triassic formations in search of mammal-like reptiles.
During 1976—1977, he went to São Paulo, Brazil where he worked with Doctor P. East. Vanzolini. In 1970 he was contracted by the Government of Guatemala to collect remains of extinct mammals at Estanzuela near Guatemala City. These were exhibited at a small museum, featuring the complete skeleton of a mastodon and duly named Museo de Paleontologia Bryan Patterson.
Member advisory panel earth science National Science Foundation, 1956-1959. Served with 16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Army of the United States, 1944-1945. Carnegie Corporation grant-in-aid for travel, 1938.
Member American Academy Arts and Sciences, Society Vertebrate Paleontology (secretary-treasurer 1946-1948, president 1948-1949), Geological Society American, Society for Study Evolution, Society Systematic Zoology, American Society Mammalogists, National Academy Science, Sigma Xi.
Married Bernice Maurine Caine, April.