Bashford Dean (1867- December 1928) was an American zoologist, specializing in ichthyology

Ichthyology

Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish...

, and at the same time an expert in medieval armor

Armour

Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...

. He is the only person to have held concurrent positions at the American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

, where he was Honorary Curator of Arms and Armor; the Metropolitan Museum purchased his collection of arms and armor after his death, which his friend Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...

 commemorated with a plaque.

Dean was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. He graduated in 1886 from the College of the City of New York

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

, and in 1890 received his Ph.D from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, where he was an assistant for Professor John Strong Newberry

John Strong Newberry

John Strong Newberry was a American geologist, physician, explorer, author, and a member of the Megatherium Club at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C....

 and later became a professor of zoology. His studies with Newberry of the placoderms, Devonian armored fishes, eventually resulted in Dean's "Studies on fossil fishes (sharks, chimaeroids and arthrodires", published in Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 9.5 (1909) and other articles on the Arthroleptid frog

Arthroleptidae

Arthroleptidae is a family of frogs found in Sub-Saharan Africa. They are also known as squeakers because of their high-pitched call. They are small, less than in length, terrestrial frogs found mostly in leaf litter on the forest floor. They completely bypass any aquatic stage, and therefore do...

 Astylosternus

Astylosternus

Astylosternus also known as "Night Frogs" is a genus of frog in the Arthroleptidae family. It contains 11 species.- Species :- References :* Amphibian Species of the World 5.1, an Online Reference Accessed on 29 Mar 2008....

 robustus and on the egg capsules of Chimaera

Chimaera

Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish in the order Chimaeriformes, known informally as ghost sharks, ratfish , spookfish , or rabbitfishes...

.

For his volume, Bibliography of Fishes, Dean was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal

Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal

The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Giraud Elliot, it was first awarded in 1917....

 from the National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

in 1921 . He is also the author of Catalogue Of European Court Swords And Hunting Swords Including the Ellis, De Dino and Reubell Collections (Metropolitan Museum of Art) 1929.