George Allman (natural historian)

George James Allman
George James Allman
Born	1812
Died	24 November 1898
Nationality	Irish
Fields	naturalist
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin
Notable awards	Royal Medal (1873) Linnean Medal (1896)

George James Allman FRS FRSE (1812 – 24 November 1898) was an Irish ecologist, botanist and zoologist who served as Emeritus Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University in Scotland.

Allman was born in Cork, Ireland, the son of James C. Allman of Bandon, and received his early education at the Royal Academical Institution, Belfast. For some time he studied for the Irish Bar, but ultimately gave up law in favour of natural science. In 1843 he graduated in medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, and in the following year was appointed professor of botany in that university, succeeding the botanist William Allman (1776–1846), who was the father of George Johnston Allman (distant relations of George). This position he held for about twelve years until he removed to Edinburgh as Regius Professor of natural history. There he remained until 1870, when considerations of health induced him to resign his professorship and retire to Dorset, where he devoted himself to his favorite pastime of horticulture.

The scientific papers which came from his pen are very numerous. His most important work was upon the gymnoblast group of the hydrozoa, on which he published in 1871-1872, through the Ray Society, an exhaustive monograph, based largely on his own researches and illustrated with drawings of remarkable excellence from his own hand. Biological science is also indebted to him for several convenient terms which have come into daily use, e.g. endoderm and ectoderm for the two cellular layers of the body-wall in Coelenterata. He contributed articles to the Irish Naturalist.