John P. Allen

John Polk Allen (born 6 May 1929, Carnegie, Oklahoma) is a systems ecologist and engineer, metallurgist, adventurer and writer. He is best known as the inventor and Director of Research of Biosphere 2, the world's largest laboratory of global ecology, and was the founder of Synergia Ranch. Allen is a proponent of the science of biospherics. Allen, who perhaps enjoyed inherited wealth, led a life of independent exploration and scientific research. Using pseudonyms in The Communal Experience: Anarchist and Mystical Communities in Twentieth Century America, Laurence Vesey describes 1970's life at Synergia Ranch, the commune founded by Allen. Known as “Synergists,” followers of Allen are found at “Synergias” from California to Puerto Rico, France, London and beyond. The work of Allen, his followers and financial supporters resulted in the creation of the Biosphere 2.

Allen currently serves as Chairman of Global Ecotechnics, and a director of Biospheric Design and of Institute of Ecotechnics. He is Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Linnean Society, and the Explorers Club.

In the early 1960s, John Allen worked on regional development projects with David Lillienthal’s Development Resources Corporation in the U.S., Iran, and Côte d'Ivoire where he became an expert in complex regional development. In the mid-1960s Allen and a group of associates attempted a solder flux company that failed. Before that he headed a special metals team at Allegheny-Ludium Steel Corporation which developed over thirty alloys to product status. He has led expeditions studying ecology, particularly the ecology of early civilizations: Nigeria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tibet, Turkey, India, and the Altiplano.

He studied anthropology and history at Northwestern, Stanford, and Oklahoma Universities, and served in the U.S. Army’s Engineering Corps as a machinist. He graduated from Colorado School of Mines and received an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School. In the early 1960s, Allen headed a special metals team at Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corporation which developed over thirty alloys to product status, then he worked with David Lillienthal’s Development Resources Corporation in the U.S., Iran, and Côte d'Ivoire.

Under the pen name, Johnny Dolphin, he has chronicled his personal history alongside the social history of his many destinations in novels, poetry, short stories and plays.