Harold Jefferson Coolidge Jr. (January 15, 1904IUCN:
Announcement: The Harold Jefferson Coolidge Memorial Medal 2008
'', URL retrieved 2011-01-21. – February 15, 1985''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', obituary:
Harold Coolidge, Expert on Exotic Mammals
, February 16, 1985. URL retrieved 2011-01-21.) was an American

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and a founding director of the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) as well as of the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

(WWF).Aldrich, James L.; Blackburn, Anne M.:
Tribute to Harold J. Coolidge
, ''The Environmentalist 5(2)'', 1985, pp. 83–84. ISSN 0251-1088.

Early life

Coolidge was born in Boston, Massachusetts; his father Harold Jefferson Coolidge Sr. (1870–1934) was the brother of Archibald Cary Coolidge and

Julian Coolidge Julian Lowell Coolidge (September 28, 1873 – March 5, 1954) was an American mathematician, historian and a professor and chairman of the Harvard University Mathematics Department. Biography Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, he graduated from Har ...

. Coolidge was also a direct descendant of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, through Jefferson's daughter

Martha Jefferson Randolph Martha "Patsy" Randolph ( ''née'' Jefferson; September 27, 1772 – October 10, 1836) was the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. She was born at Monticel ...

. Coolidge studied at

Milton Academy Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

and at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

before entering

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Originally, he had wanted to become a diplomat, like his uncle Archibald Cary Coolidge, but he soon turned to biology, specializing in

primatology Primatology is the scientific study of primates. It is a diverse Academic discipline, discipline at the boundary between mammalogy and anthropology, and researchers can be found in academic departments of anatomy, anthropology, biology, medici ...

.Talbot, Lee M.:
Dedication to Dr. Harold J. Coolidge
, ''The Environmentalist 2(4)'', 1982, pp. 281–282. ISSN 0251-1088. After getting a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

from Harvard in 1927, he worked as curator at Harvard's

Museum of Comparative Zoology A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Career

Coolidge participated in the Harvard Medical Expedition to Africa in 1926/27 to

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

and the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

, from where he brought back a large

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

Goldberg, Carey:
Filmmakers Study a Man Who Studied the Apes
, ''

'', March 23, 1999. URL retrieved 2011-01-22. that is still on display at the Museum of Comparative Zoology.Harvard Magazine, November/December 2007:
Portrait: Janet Browne
'. URL retrieved 2011-01-22. In 1929 he published "A revision of the genus Gorilla", which forms the basis of the modern

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Gorilla.Stumpf, R. M.; Polk, J. D.; Oates, J. F.; ''et al.'', "Patterns of diversity in gorilla cranial morphology", pp. 35–61 in Taylor, A.B; Goldsmith, M.L. (eds.): ''Gorilla Biology'', Cambridge University Press 2002. . Here p. 35. Coolidge participated in the Kelley-Roosevelt Expedition to Asia in 1928/29, and in 1937, he organized and led the Asiatic Primate Expedition through northwest

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...

and northern

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

to study

gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast India ...

s. Coolidge also studied at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, England.Hughes-Evans, David:
Profile of Harold Jefferson Coolidge
, ''The Environmentalist 1(1)'', 1981, pp. 65–74. ISSN 0251-1088. In 1933, he published the first detailed account of

bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee, is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus '' Pan,'' the other being the comm ...

s, elevating them to

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

rank (''Pan paniscus''). Ernst Schwarz had already published in 1929 a brief paper on them and had classified them as the subspecies ''Pan satyrus paniscus'', based on a skull from the

discovered at a museum at Tervuren, Belgium. In 1982, twenty years after Schwarz's death, Coolidge claimed to have discovered that skull first and to have been "taxonomically scooped" by Schwarz.de Waal, Frans:
Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape
, University of California Press, 1997, p. 6. . URL retrieved 2011-01-22.Herzfeld, Chris:
L'invention du bonobo
, ''Bull. Hist. Épistém. Sci. Vie 14(2)'', 2007, pp. 139–162. (article in French). URL retrieved 2011-01-22.

Public service

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Coolidge served in the OSS, where he developed, amongst other things, a chemical

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

repellent, overseeing

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

, who worked as his executive assistant on the project. He was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

in 1945. After the war, he became director of the Pacific Science Board of the U.S.

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, a post he held until 1970. He was also a member of the U.S. delegation at the conference in

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

in France where the

was founded, and was elected its first vice-president. From 1966 to 1972, he served as IUCN president. In 1961, he was also one of the founding directors of the

(WWF), and a WWF International Board member from 1971 to 1978. In 1980, Coolidge was awarded the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize for his work in nature conservation, one of many awards he got throughout his career.

Personal life

He died at the hospital in

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...

of complications after a fall and was buried at

's home,

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

.Monticello Association, . URL last accessed 2012-11-15.

Selected publications

* Coolidge, H.J.: "A revision of the genus Gorilla", ''Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology'', vol 50, pp. 293–381, Harvard University 1929. * Coolidge, H.J.:
''Pan paniscus''. Pigmy chimpanzee from south of the Congo river
, ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 18(1)'', pp. 1–59; July/September 1933. Contains a translation of Schwarz's earlier report.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coolidge, Harold Jefferson Jr. 1904 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American zoologists Coolidge family Recipients of the Legion of Merit University of Arizona alumni Harvard University alumni Presidents of the International Union for Conservation of Nature 20th-century American politicians Burials at Monticello