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Joel Asaph Allen (July 19, 1838 - August 29, 1921) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 zoologist and ornithologist, born in Springfield, MA.

He studied at Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 under Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a paleontologist, glaciologist, and geologist, and was a prominent innovator in the study of the earth's natural history....
. He participated in the latter's 1865 expedition to Brazil
Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
 (in search of evidence of an ice age there, which Agassiz later claimed to have found) and in several others within the United States.

In 1872 he was named assistant in ornithology to the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Museum of Comparative Zoology

The Museum of Comparative Zoology, full name "The Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology", often abbreviated simply to "MCZ", is a zoology museum located on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts....
 at Harvard.

In 1873 he was the head of the naturalists of the Northern Pacific Railroad expedition from Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck, North Dakota

Bismarck is the Capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota, the county seat of Burleigh County, North Dakota, and the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo, North Dakota....
 to the Yellowstone
Yellowstone

Yellowstone most often refers to Yellowstone National Park.Yellowstone may also refer to:* 2-8-8-4, a locomotive type nicknamed "Yellowstone"...
 and back for the Smithsonian.






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Joel Asaph Allen (July 19, 1838 - August 29, 1921) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 zoologist and ornithologist, born in Springfield, MA.

He studied at Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 under Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a paleontologist, glaciologist, and geologist, and was a prominent innovator in the study of the earth's natural history....
. He participated in the latter's 1865 expedition to Brazil
Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
 (in search of evidence of an ice age there, which Agassiz later claimed to have found) and in several others within the United States.

In 1872 he was named assistant in ornithology to the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Museum of Comparative Zoology

The Museum of Comparative Zoology, full name "The Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology", often abbreviated simply to "MCZ", is a zoology museum located on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts....
 at Harvard.

In 1873 he was the head of the naturalists of the Northern Pacific Railroad expedition from Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck, North Dakota

Bismarck is the Capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota, the county seat of Burleigh County, North Dakota, and the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo, North Dakota....
 to the Yellowstone
Yellowstone

Yellowstone most often refers to Yellowstone National Park.Yellowstone may also refer to:* 2-8-8-4, a locomotive type nicknamed "Yellowstone"...
 and back for the Smithsonian. Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
 was another area he explored from a zoological perspective.

With Elliott Coues
Elliott Coues

Elliott Coues was an United States army surgery, historian, ornithologist and author.Coues was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He graduated at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1861, and at the Medical school of that institution in 1863....
 and William Brewster
William Brewster

William Brewster may refer to:*William Brewster , Pilgrim and Mayflower passenger*William Brewster , ornithologist*William K. Brewster, Democratic politician and a retired U.S....
 he in August of 1883 sent the letter inviting selected individuals to form the American Ornithological Union at a meeting to be held in September. He was unavoidably absent from this initial meeting, but was nonetheless elected the new organization's first president.

Allen was the first curator of bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s and mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s at the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world....
 (from 1885 on) and later the first head of its Department of Ornithology.

In 1886, he was one of the incorporators of the first Audubon Society, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
. He is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation between scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting science education and science outreach for the betterment of all humanity....
, and of the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society

The American Philosophical Society is a discussion group founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin as an offshoot of his earlier club, the Junto....
. From 1883 to 1886 he was President of the American Ornithologists' Union
American Ornithologists' Union

The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithology organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birdwatching....
.

The hundreds of letters which Coues (pronounced "cows") sent to him over many decades form one of the cornerstones of the history of American ornithology. Allen famously memorialized Coues in the pages of The Auk
The Auk

The Auk is a quarterly journal and the official publication of the American Ornithologists' Union, having been continuously published by that body since 1884....
, the A.O.U.'s journal, after the latter's death in 1899. http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:4TnNroDQQgQJ:books.nap.edu/html/biomems/ecoues.pdf+josep+asaph+allen+auk+coues&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us

Allen's rule
Allen's rule

Allen's rule is a biology rule posited by Joel Asaph Allen in 1877. It states that Warm-bloodeds from colder climates usually have shorter limbs than the equivalent animals from warmer climates....
, stating a correlation between body shape and climate, was formulated by him in 1877.

In addition to a great number of scientific papers, he is author of these books:
  • Mammals and Winter Birds of Eastern Florida, (1871)
  • The American Bisons, (1876)
  • Monographs of North American Rodentia (with Elliott Coues
    Elliott Coues

    Elliott Coues was an United States army surgery, historian, ornithologist and author.Coues was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He graduated at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1861, and at the Medical school of that institution in 1863....
    , 1877)
  • History of North American Pinnipedia, (1880)
  • Mammals of Patagonia, (1905)
  • The Influence of Physical Conditions in the Genesis of Species, (1905)
  • Ontogenetic and Other Variations in Musk-Oxen (1913).