Joel Asaph Allen
| Joel Asaph Allen | |
|---|---|
Joel Asaph Allen
|
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| Born |
July 19, 1838 Springfield, Massachusetts |
| Died | August 29, 1921 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | |
| Institutions |
American Academy of Arts and Sciences Museum of Comparative Zoology American Association for the Advancement of Science Audubon Society American Philosophical Society |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Known for | Allen's rule |
Joel Asaph Allen (July 19, 1838 – August 29, 1921) was an American zoologist, mammalogist and ornithologist.
He became the first president of the American Ornithologists' Union, the first curator of birds and mammals at the American Museum of Natural History, and the first head of that museum's Department of Ornithology.
He is remembered for Allen's rule, which states that the bodies of endotherms (warm-blooded animals) vary in shape with climate, having increased surface area in hot climates to lose heat, and minimized surface area in cold climates, to conserve heat.
Allen was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the son of Harriet Trumbull and Joel Allen. He studied and collected specimen of natural history early in life, but he forced to sell his relative large collection so that he could attend the Wilbraham & Monson Academy in 1861. The following year, he transferred to Harvard University, where he studied under Louis Agassiz.
In 1865, he took part in his mentor's 1865 expedition to Brazil in search of evidence of an ice age there, which Agassiz later claimed to have found. After returning to Massachusetts, chronic ill health caused him to return to his family farm in Springfield.
By 1867, Allen's health had improved enough that he went on a flurry of collecting trips, including at Sodus Bay, and in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. Upon his return to Massachusetts, he took the position of curator of birds and mammals at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. In the winter of 1868-1869, he was one of two ornithologists, the other being Charles Johnson Maynard, to explore the relatively unknown state of Florida, which was then still very much a wilderness in the late 1860s.
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