R. K. (Rufus King) Noyes (1853-1942) was born in Hampstead, New Hampshire, and died in Atkinson, New Hampshire. He attended Atkinson Academy, Atkinson, New Hampshire, before enrolling at Dartmouth College Medical School and graduating in 1875. After graduating, he worked as a house surgeon at Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center). In 1877, he set up a private practice in Boston and later, in Lynn, Massachusetts. In January 1882, Mary Baker Eddy and Asa Gilbert Eddy studied obstetrics with Noyes, and in the spring of 1882, Noyes was admitted to the faculty of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, shortly before the College opened at 569 Columbus Avenue, Boston. Asa Gilbert Eddy died on June 3, 1882, and, at the request of Mary Baker Eddy, Noyes performed an autopsy. On June 14,1882, Noyes was expelled (he believed unjustly) from the Massachusetts Medical Society for his anti-vaccinationist views and for "abetting and assisting irregular practitioners." In November 1882, he was involved in a scandal regarding diplomas issued by the Bellevue Medical College of Massachusetts, of which he was the President. Noyes believed he was the victim of a conspiracy hatched by the Illinois and Massachusetts medical establishment. The issuance of diplomas led to charges of using the mails with intent to defraud. However, the charges were thrown out because the Bellevue Medical College had been chartered by the Commonwealth, and under the Massachusetts law of the time, had the right to issue diplomas to anyone regardless of competence. On November 27, 1882, he resigned from the Bellevue Medical College and one day later, he resigned from the faculty of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. Noyes authored several books including The History of Medicine for the Last 4000 Years which Mary Baker Eddy quoted from in Science and Health. There is no record of Noyes studying with Mary Baker Eddy.

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