Wilbur Olin Atwater

Infobox Scientist
name = Wilbur Olin Atwater
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caption = Wilbur Olin Atwater
birth_date = May 3, 1844
birth_place = Johnsburg, New York
death_date = September 22, 1907
death_place = Middletown, Connecticut
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nationality = United States
ethnicity =
field = chemistry
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known_for = metabolism
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Wilbur Olin Atwater (May 3, 1844, Johnsburg, New York — September 22, 1907, Middletown, Connecticut) was an American chemist known for his studies of human nutrition and metabolism.

Atwater grew up in the New England area. He opted not to fight in the American Civil War and instead to pursue an undergraduate degree at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In 1868, Atwater's interest in civil engineering and agricultural chemistry led him to enroll in Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School, where he analyzed agricultural fertilizers for specific mineral content. Atwater received his doctorate in 1869 in agricultural chemistry, his thesis being entitled "The Proximate Composition of Several Types of American Maize." Afterwards, he spent two years in Leipzig and Berlin, where he visited agricultural experiment stations. Atwater also spent time traveling throughout Scotland, Rome, and Naples, where he reported his findings in local newspapers distributed where he lived back in the United States. Atwater later returned to the United States to teach at East Tennessee University and later Wesleyan as its first Professor of Chemistry.cite conference |title=The Life and Times of W.O. Atwater |first=Kenneth J |last=Carpenter |month=September |year=1994 |conference=The 1993 W.O. Atwater Centennial Memorial Lecture |booktitle=The Journal of Nutrition |publisher=Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of California, Berkeley |location=Berkeley, California]

Scientific advancement

Atwater is best known for his studies of human nutrition. He studied respiration and metabolism in animals and in humans. He invented and utilized a machine called the respiration calorimeter. With annual costs exceeding ten thousand dollars, this piece of equipment was considered a dream project for the nineteenth century. The calorimeter aided studies in food analysis, dietary evolution, work energy consumption, and digestible foods. It measured the human metabolism balance by analyzing the heat produced and metabolic rate by a person performing certain physical activities. With this machine, the dynamics of metabolism could be quantified and the balance between food intake and energy output could be measured.cite book |title=A History of American Bodies |first=Susan |last=Lederer |publisher=Yale University |location=New Haven, Connecticut |year=2007]

The results from Atwater’s calorimetry study influenced many areas of American life. Most importantly, the calorimeter was a great influence to the growing awareness of the food calorie as a unit of measure both in terms of consumption and metabolism. Atwater reported on the weight of the calorie as a means of which to measure the efficiency of a diet. He stated that different types of food produced different amounts of energy. He stressed the importance of a cheap and efficient diet that included more proteins, beans, and vegetables in place of carbohydrates. Atwater also studied the effect of alcohol on the body. His findings showed that humans generated heat from alcohol much like it would generate heat from a carbohydrate. At a time where the Scientific Temperance Federation and the WCTU doubted the nutritional value of alcohol, Atwater proved that alcohol could be oxidized in the body and used as fuel for the human motor. Information gained from Atwater’s experiments was used by the liquor trade in the promotion of alcohol.

Continuation of study

After completing his study, Atwater concluded that Americans consumed too much fat and sweets and did not exercise enough. His successor, Francis Benedict (1870-1957), continued down Atwater’s path using the respiration calorimeter to further measure metabolism and other bodily processes. Benedict studied the varying metabolism rates of infants born in two hospitals in Massachusetts, athletes, students, vegetarians, Mayans living in the Yucatan, and normal adults. He even developed a calorimeter large enough to hold twelve girl scouts for an extended period of time. His biggest improvement was the invention of portable field respiration calorimeters. In 1919, Francis Benedict published a metabolic standards report with extensive tables based on age, sex, height, and weight.

References

*Citation
id = PMID:8089752
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8089752
last=Welsh
first=S
publication-date=1994 Sep
year=1994
title=Atwater to the present: evolution of nutrition education.
volume=124
issue=9 Suppl
periodical=J. Nutr.
pages=1799S-1807S
*Citation
id = PMID:8089741
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8089741
last=Darby
first=W J
publication-date=1994 Sep
year=1994
title=Contributions of Atwater and USDA to knowledge of nutrient requirements.
volume=124
issue=9 Suppl
periodical=J. Nutr.
pages=1733S-1737S
*Citation
id = PMID:8089740
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8089740
last=Combs
first=G F
publication-date=1994 Sep
year=1994
title=Celebration of the past: nutrition at USDA.
volume=124
issue=9 Suppl
periodical=J. Nutr.
pages=1728S-1732S
*Citation
id = PMID:8089739
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8089739
last=Nichols
first=B L
publication-date=1994 Sep
year=1994
title=Atwater and USDA nutrition research and service: a prologue of the past century.
volume=124
issue=9 Suppl
periodical=J. Nutr.
pages=1718S-1727S
*Citation
id = PMID:8089738
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8089738
last=Galbraith
first=C A
publication-date=1994 Sep
year=1994
title=Wilbur Olin Atwater.
volume=124
issue=9 Suppl
periodical=J. Nutr.
pages=1715S-1717S
*Citation
id = PMID:8089737
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8089737
last=Carpenter
first=K J
publication-date=1994 Sep
year=1994
title=The 1993 W. O. Atwater Centennial Memorial Lecture. The life and times of W. O. Atwater (1844-1907).
volume=124
issue=9 Suppl
periodical=J. Nutr.
pages=1707S-1714S
*Citation
id = PMID:16350576
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16350576
id = PMID:16350575
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16350575
last=Atwater
first=W O
last2=Benedict
first2=F G
publication-date=1993 May
year=1993
title=An experimental inquiry regarding the nutritive value of alcohol. 1902.
volume=1
issue=3
periodical=Obes. Res.
pages=228-44
*Citation
id = PMID:3554961
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3554961
last=Widdowson
first=E M
publication-date=1987 May
year=1987
title=Atwater: a personal tribute from the United Kingdom.
volume=45
issue=5
periodical=Am. J. Clin. Nutr.
pages=898-904
*Citation
id = PMID:2261525
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2261525
last=Pauly
first=P J
publication-date=1990
year=1990
title=The struggle for ignorance about alcohol: American physiologists, Wilbur Olin Atwater, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
volume=64
issue=3
periodical=Bulletin of the history of medicine
pages=366-92
*Citation
id = PMID:7029560
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7029560
last=Keys
first=A
publication-date=1981
year=1981
title=Overweight, obesity, coronary heart disease, and mortality: the W.O. Atwater Memorial Lecture, 1980.
volume=67
issue=
periodical=Prog. Clin. Biol. Res.
pages=31-46
*Citation
id = PMID:765893
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/765893
last=Darby
first=W J
publication-date=1976 Jan
year=1976
title=Nutrition science: an overview of American genius.
volume=34
issue=1
periodical=Nutr. Rev.
pages=1-14
*Citation
id = PMID:4597261
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4597261
last=Harrar
first=J G
publication-date=1974 Apr
year=1974
title=W.O. Atwater Memorial Lecture. Nutrition and numbers in the Third World.
volume=32
issue=4
periodical=Nutr. Rev.
pages=97-104
*Citation
id = PMID:14097349
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14097349
last=WILSON
first=P W
publication-date=1963 Dec
year=1963
title=BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN FIXATION--EARLY AMERICAN STYLE (SAMUEL W. JOHNSON AND WILBUR O. ATWATER).
volume=27
issue=
periodical=Bacteriological reviews
pages=405-16
*Citation
id = PMID:14471741
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14471741
last=MAYNARD
first=L A
publication-date=1962 Sep
year=1962
title=Wilbur O. Atwater--a biographical sketch (May 3, 1844-October 6, 1907).
volume=78
issue=
periodical=J. Nutr.
pages=3-9

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19608 Wilbur Atwater] at Find-A-GravePersondata
NAME=Atwater, Wilbur Olin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Atwater, Wilbur
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American agricultural chemist; developer of the respiration calorimeter.
DATE OF BIRTH=May 3, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH=Johnsburg, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH=September 22, 1907
PLACE OF DEATH=Middletown, Connecticut, United States