Mary Belle Allen

Mary Belle Allen
Mary Belle Allen, Kaiser Permanente, 1959
BornNovember 11, 1922
Died1973(1973-00-00) (aged 50–51)
Alma materUniversity of California, Columbia University
FatherFrederick Madison Allen
AwardsDarbaker Prize, 1962
Scientific career
FieldsBotany, chemistry, biochemical microbiology
InstitutionsHopkins Marine Station, University of California, Berkeley, Kaiser Permanente, University of Alaska
Author abbrev. (botany)M.B.Allen

Mary Belle Allen (November 11, 1922, Morristown, New Jersey –1973, Fairbanks, Alaska) was an American botanist, chemist, mycologist, algologist, and plant pathologist, and a pioneer of biochemical microbiology. With Daniel I. Arnon and F. Robert Whatley, she did breakthrough research discovering and demonstrating the role of chloroplasts in photosynthesis. In 1962 she received the Darbaker Prize from the Botanical Society of America for her work on microbial algae. In 1967 she was nominated jointly (but unsuccessfully) with Arnon and Whatley for a Nobel Prize.

The abbreviation M.B.Allen is used to indicate Mary Belle Allen as the author of the description and scientific classification of genera and species. (Consult IPNI).