Carleton Coon

American television viewers in the early days of TV knew Dr. Carleton Coon as a witty, erudite analyst of esoteric objects on the program What in the World? (1950), where he would join a panel of experts who examined mysterious artifacts from the perspectives of archeology and anthropology. Coon had taught at Harvard University from the late 1920s through the late 1940s, interrupting his tenure during World War II to serve in the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency). He later became a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and a curator at that institution's University Museum.