1904-1993

American physician who discovered progesterone. Earning a medical degree from the University of Rochester, Allen specialized in obstetrics and gynecology and taught at the Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Hospital. His endocrinological research focused on the biochemistry of sex hormones. With George Washington Corner, he isolated progesterone, a hormone created by the ovaries, and verified that the hormone was crucial to prepare and sustain the uterus during pregnancy. Allen and Oskar Wintersteiner produced crystalline progesterone.