Edgar Allen (May 2, 1892 – February 3, 1943) was an American

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

and physiologist. He is known for the discovery of

estrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal ac ...

and his role in creating the field of endocrinology. Born on Cañon (Canyon) City,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, Allen was educated at Brown University. After serving in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he took a position at Washington University in St. Louis until, in 1923, he was appointed to the chair of anatomy at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

in Columbia, Missouri. Ten years later he was appointed to the chair at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. 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 Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt (; 24 March 1903 – 18 January 1995) was a German biochemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 for his "work on sex hormones." He initially rejected the award in accordance with government po ...

in 1929. Allen died of a heart attack in 1943 while on duty with the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

References

External links

Biography of Edgar Allen on whonamedit.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Edgar American anatomists American physiologists Brown University alumni University of Missouri faculty Yale University faculty People from Cañon City, Colorado 1892 births 1943 deaths Washington University in St. Louis faculty

References

Further reading

External links