Mark Walrod Harrington

Mark Walrod Harrington (August 18, 1848 – September 10, 1926) was an American scientist who studied and published works in multiple disciplines, including botany, astronomy, meteorology, and geology. He was the first chief of the United States Weather Bureau, and later served as president of the University of Washington. Considered a prominent scientist in the late 19th century, he knew a half-dozen languages. His academic achievements were overshadowed, however, by his disappearance in 1899, when he left home one day and was not heard from for many years. His wife and son located him in 1908 at a psychiatric hospital in New Jersey where he had been admitted as patient John Doe No. 8.