Robert Bennett Bean (March 24, 1874 in Gala, Virginia[1] –1944) was an associate professor of anatomy and ethnologist adept to craniometry and the concept of "race", whose scientific work was discredited by his mentor but who nonetheless became a professor at the University of Virginia and remained so until his death.
[2] Bean, through his mother, was descended from the First Families of Virginia, including colonist and land owner William Randolph.
In 1916 he accepted a position as an associate professor at the University of Virginia and remained so until his death.
He became the councilor of the American Anthropological Association in 1919 and was also a regional chairman for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1926).
[3] He is best remembered for his ethnological work The Races of Man (1932).