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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and a founding director of the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) as well as of the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based 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 ...

(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 Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. His father Harold Jefferson Coolidge Sr. (1870–1934) was a brother of Archibald Cary Coolidge and Julian Coolidge. Coolidge was also a descendant of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, through Jefferson's daughter

Martha Jefferson Randolph Martha "Patsy" Randolph (Maiden and married names, ''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 Jefferson, Martha Wayles ...

. Coolidge studied at

Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...

and at the

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

before entering

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

. 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 non-human primates. It is a diverse discipline at the boundary between mammalogy and anthropology, and researchers can be found in academic departments of anatomy, anthropology, biology, medicine, psychol ...

. 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. from Harvard in 1927, he worked as curator at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology.

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 Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

and the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

, from where he brought back a large

gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial 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 five su ...

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 image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''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 and northern

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

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 forests from eastern Bangladesh and Northeast Indi ...

s. Coolidge also studied at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, 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 (less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee), is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus ''Pan (genus), Pan'' (the other bei ...

s, elevating them to

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

repellent, overseeing

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American pu ...

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

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

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, NGO, 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 ...

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

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

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, United States, 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 Sho ...

of complications after a fall and was buried at

's home,

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

.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 Harold Jefferson 2 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