Background
John Young was born on March 18, 1907 in Bristol, England, into the family of Philip Young and Constance M. Lloyd.
John Young was born on March 18, 1907 in Bristol, England, into the family of Philip Young and Constance M. Lloyd.
Young went to school at Marlborough College. In 1928, he received a first class honours degree in zoology from Magdalen College in Oxford.
In John's early career, he was a demonstrator in zoology and comparative anatomy and a fellow of Magdalen College at Oxford University, beginning in 1931. In 1945 he left Oxford for the University of London as professor of anatomy; he became professor emeritus and fellow in 1975.
During his career he also served as Fullerton Professor at the Royal Institution from 1958 to 1961 and was affiliated with the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. He also delivered the BBC Reigh Lectures in 1950, the Croonian Lecture for the Royal Society in 1965, and the Gifford Lectures in 1973. From 1976 until 1986 he served as president of the Marine Biological Association of Great Britain. Among his many awards were honorary degrees from schools such as University of Bristol, University of Bath, Duke University, and University of Aberdeen, among others.
He was also an author and editor of books, including "Doubt and Certainly in Science: A Biologist's Reflections on the Brain", "The Life of Mammals: Their Anatomy and Physiology", "The Life of Vertebrates", "A Model of the Brain", "The Memory System of the Brain", and "Philosophy and the Brain." His book, tentatively titled "The Brains and Lives of Cephalopods", was in progress at the time of his death.
Young married twice, to Phyllis Heaney (a painter) with whom he had two children, Simon Zachary and Cordelia, and in 1987 following her death to Raymonde Parsons (also an artist) with whom he had one child, Kate Frances.