Within two years, however, he had become so enthralled with the evolutionary theories and the exploratory voyages of nineteenth-century British naturalist Charles Darwin that he switched from medicine to zoology. He moved to the University of Berlin, where he had once worked at the zoological museum during his summer vacations. In 1926, he received his Ph.D. in zoology,
summa cum laude from the university. Soon afterward, he became the zoological museum's assistant curator.
Leads Expeditions to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
While still working at the museum, Mayr went to Budapest in 1928 to attend a zoological conference. There he met Lionel Walter Rothschild, a British baron and well-known zoologist. Impressed by the young man, Lord Rothschild asked him to lead an ornithological expedition to Dutch New Guinea, in the southwest Pacific. Mayr jumped at the chance. New Guinea at that time was extremely inaccessible, but Mayr was eager to investigate the birds of several remote mountain ranges. The trip was not easy, and Mayr's party suffered a variety of illnesses and injuries. But Mayr was undaunted and he decided to remain in the region, making a second expedition sponsored by the University of Berlin to mountain ranges in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea.
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