Edgar Allen

American anatomist and physiologist

For other people named Edgar Allen, see Edgar Allen (disambiguation).

Edgar Allen

Allen in 1933

Born| (1892-05-02)May 2, 1892

Canon City, Colorado

Died| February 3, 1943(1943-02-03) (aged 50)

New Haven, Connecticut

Nationality|  American
Alma mater| Brown University
Scientific career
Fields| Anatomy, Physiology, Endocrinology
Institutions| University of Missouri
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University

Edgar Allen (May 2, 1892 – February 3, 1943) was an American anatomist and physiologist. He is known for the discovery of estrogen and his role in creating the field of endocrinology.[1]

Born on Cañon (Canyon) City, Colorado, Allen was educated at Brown University. After serving in World War I he took a position at Washington University School of Medicine in 1919 until, in 1923,[2] he was appointed to the chair of anatomy at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Ten years later he was appointed to the chair at Yale University.

At Missouri, he began his studies of sex hormones. While it was commonly believed at the time that the female reproductive cycle was controlled by substance in the corpus luteum, Allen sought the answer in the follicles surrounding the ovum, leading to his discovery of estrogen, though it was identified six years later by Adolf Butenandt in 1929.

Allen died of a heart attack in 1943 while on duty with the United States Coast Guard.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Cowan, Ruth (1970). "Allen, Edgar". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 1\. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 123–124\. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.123-124&rft.pub=Charles+Scribner's+Sons&rft.date=1970&rft.isbn=0-684-10114-9&rft.aulast=Cowan&rft.aufirst=Ruth&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Edgar+Allen" class="Z3988">
2. ^ "Allen, Edgar - Becker Archives Database". beckerarchives.wustl.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-04.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Gardner, W.U. (April 1943). "Edgar Allen (Obituary)." Science. Vol. 97, No. 2521, pp. 368–369.
* American National Biography, vol. 1, pp. 304–305.

## External links

[edit]

* Biography of Edgar Allen on whonamedit.com

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