Joseph P. Allen

Joseph Percival "Joe" Allen IV, Ph.D. (born June 27, 1937) is a former NASA astronaut. He logged more than 3,000 hours flying time in jet aircraft.

Allen is married to the former Bonnie Jo Darling of Elkhart, Indiana. Their children are David Christopher, born September 1968 and Elizabeth Darling, born May 1972.

Early life and education

Allen was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, on June 27, 1937. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Allen III, reside in Frankfort, Indiana. He attended Mills School, and is a graduate of Crawfordsville High School in Indiana, class of 1955; received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Physics from DePauw University in 1959, where he was a member of The Delta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi, and a Master of Science degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Physics from Yale University in 1961 and 1965, respectively.

Allen was a research associate in the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington prior to his selection as an astronaut. He was a staff physicist at the Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University in 1965 and 1966, and during the period 1963 to 1967, served as a guest researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory.