Frederick A. Shannon was a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 herpetologist and medical doctor.

Biography

He was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa

Mount Pleasant, Iowa

Mount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa, in the United States. The population was 8,668 in the 2010 census, a decline from 8,751 in the 2000 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders.- History :...

, the son of Fred Albert Shannon

Fred Albert Shannon

Fred Albert Shannon was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He had many publications related to the American history, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for History for The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861-1865.-Biography:Shannon was born February 12, 1893, in...

 and Edna M. (Jones) Shannon.

In 1939, Shannon moved to Champaign, Illinois

Champaign, Illinois

Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...

 and began studying Zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 at the University of Illinois

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

, where he got a B.A.

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in Zoology in 1943. He then started studying medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 and got an M.D.

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 in 1947. He practised for one year at the St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

 before going back to Illinois for some post-graduate herpetology

Herpetology

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

 work. In 1949 he moved to Wickenburg, Arizona

Wickenburg, Arizona

Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town is 6,423.-Geography:Wickenburg is located at ....

.

Between 1951 and 1953, Shannon was sent as a Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 to Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, where he still found opportunities to collect many reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

 specimens. Back in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, he published many articles on poisonous snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

 bites, venomology, and herpetology. From 1956 on, he collected specimens mainly in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

He died in Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...

 from the bite of a Mojave Rattlesnake he had attempted to catch.