Samuel Cate Prescott
Samuel Cate Prescott | |
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Samuel A. Goldblith, Bernard E. Proctor | |
Notes | |
Prescott earned his S.B. in chemistry at MIT in 1894 and did not go up any further in his studies. |
Samuel Cate Prescott (April 5, 1872 – March 19, 1962) was an American food scientist and microbiologist who was involved in the development of food safety, food science, public health, and industrial microbiology.
Early life
Prescott was born in South Hampton, New Hampshire, the younger of two children. An older sister, Grace, later became a teacher in South Hampton, located near the Amesbury, Massachusetts area, located across the New Hampshire-Massachusetts state line. His formal education was in an ungraded schoolhouse in New Hampshire. During his fifteenth year, Prescott served as a "rod man" on a surveying crew to lay out the state line between eastern New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
In 1888, he enrolled at the Sanborn Seminary in Kingston, New Hampshire, becoming a member of the first graduating class in 1890 which consisted of three girls and two boys. The seminary was a preparatory school for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, then known as Boston Tech). It was there he met Allyne L. Merrill, an 1885 MIT graduate who helped Prescott enroll there in the fall of 1890.[1]
Student days at MIT
Majoring in
Prescott graduated with a
Return to MIT and canning research
In 1895, Prescott returned to MIT as an assistant to Sedgwick in the biology department and was promoted to instructor in 1896. During that time,
From late 1895 to late 1896, Prescott and Underwood worked on the problem every afternoon, specifically on canned
The processing time-temperature studies also led to research of processing time-temperature studies of canned lobster, sardines, peas, tomatoes, corn, and spinach. Prescott and Underwood's work was first published in late 1896 with follow-up papers done from 1897 to 1926[4][5] This research, though important to the growth of food technology, was never patented.[6] It would also pave the way for thermal death time research that was pioneered by Bigelow and C. Olin Ball from 1921 to 1936.[7]
MIT teaching and research
While Prescott was doing his canning research, he also taught biology at MIT. This included courses in bacteriology, general biology, botany, genetics. He also rose through the ranks at MIT, moving to assistant professor in 1903 and associate professor in 1909 and even traveled through Europe during 1900, mainly Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and France, to assist in research per Sedgwick's request. Prescott published papers on water bacteriology, milk bacteriology, and public health bacteriology from 1895 to 1910.[8]
His research would continue from 1910 to 1921 into banana fungal disease in Costa Rica in 1917 and 1918 that would lead to a disease-resistant banana.[9] During World War I, Prescott also was commissioned a United States Army major in the Sanitary Commission of the army medical department regarding the dehydration of food supplied to soldiers on the front line during the war. Serving from 1917 to 1919, Prescott received an honorable discharge and would actively serve in the United States Army Reserve until 1936, where he retired at the rank of colonel.[10][11]
Rise to department head and Dean of Science at MIT
Prescott assumed the role of acting head of the Department of Biology and Public Health at MIT upon Sedgwick's death on January 25, 1921, and would be named department head on May 18, 1922. Prescott as department chair would change the focus from sanitary biology to industrial biology content with focus more on food technology, including recruiting more biochemistry and physiology faculty from 1922 and in later careers.
Student recruitment would also increase, including the recruitment of future food scientists such as
Continuation of food technology research
Even while he was busy as department head and dean, Prescott continued working on research beneficial to the growth of food technology from 1921 to 1942. This would include research into
Formation of the Institute of Food Technologists
As food technology grew from the individual family farm to the factory level, including the
The
By 1935, both Prescott and Proctor (now on the MIT faculty) decided that it was time to hold an international conference regarding this.[16] A detailed proposal was presented to MIT President Compton in 1936 was presented with $1500 of financial aid from MIT for a meeting to be held from June 30 – July 2, 1937, with Compton asking how many people would be in attendance at this meeting. Prescott replied with "fifty or sixty people." 500 people actually attended the event.[16]
This meeting proved so successful that in early 1938 that a second conference would be held in 1939. Initially led by George J. Hucker of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (part of Cornell University) in Geneva, New York, a small group meeting was held on August 5, 1938, on forming an organization with an expanded group meeting in New York City on January 16, 1939, to further discuss this.[17] The second conference was held at MIT June 29 to July 1, 1939, with Proctor as conference chair. 600 people attended this event.
At the final session, the chairman of the session
Post-MIT career
Following his 1942 retirement, Prescott remained a busy man even becoming acting dean during 1944 when the current dean
Death and legacy
Prescott died on March 19, 1962, shortly after suffering a stroke at 89.[23] Prior to his death in 1961, the Underwood Canning Company dedicated a new laboratory wing of their facility in honor of Prescott and Underwood.[24] After Prescott's 1962 passing, the Underwood company established the Underwood Prescott Memorial Lectureship that ran until 1982 when the Underwood Company was sold.[25]
The Institute of Food Technologists established the
Honors and awards
All honors are at this reference[28] unless noted.
- MIT Class of 1894 Secretary[29]
- Fellow – American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Year not listed)
- President – Society of American Bacteriologists (1919) (now American Society for Microbiology). Also was charter member[30]
- President – Institute of Food Technologists (1939–41). Charter member and the only person to every serve as president more than one year.
- IFT Nicholas Appert Award(1943)
- IFT Stephen M. Babcock Award (1951)[31]
- Samuel Cate Prescott Award created (1964)[32]
- Honorary ScD – Bates College(1923)
- Honorary ScD – Lehigh University (1947)
- Honorary Charter Member of Phi Tau Sigma, the honorary society of food science (1953).
Personal life
Prescott married Alice Chase (1884–1958) in June 1910 and remained married until her 1958 death.
References
- ^ Goldblith, S. A. (1993). Pioneers in Food Science, Volume 1: Samuel Cate Prescott - M.I.T. Dean and Pioneer Food Technologist. Trumball, CT: Food & Nutrition Press. pp. 1-7.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 9-15.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 21-22.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 22-28.
- ^ Powers, J.J. "The Food Industry Contribution: Preeminence in Science and in Application." A Century of Food Science. (2000). Institute of Food Technologists: Chicago. pp. 17-18.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 24.
- ^ Powers. p. 17.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 17-20, 33-43.
- ^ Goldblith. pp.53-4.
- ^ Goldblith. pp.54-5.
- ^ Dunn, C.G. (1962). "Samuel Cate Prescott: 1872-1962." Journal of Bacteriology. 83(6):1167.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 56-60, 77-78.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 67-76.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 86-7.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 99-100.
- ^ a b Goldblith. p. 101.
- ^ a b Goldblith. p. 102.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 127.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 107.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 108.
- ^ Goldblith. pp.108-112, 182.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 114.
- ^ a b Goldblith. p. 130.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 126.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 128, 171-3.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 128, 130.
- ^ MIT Reports to the President Department of Toxicology for 1996-7 - Accessed October 18, 2006.
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 127-8.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 113.
- ^ Dunn. p.1167.
- ^ IFT Babcock-Hart (formerly Stephen M. Babcock) Award winners Archived 2006-10-02 at the Wayback Machine – Accessed October 18, 2006.
- ^ IFT Prescott Award winners Archived 2006-10-02 at the Wayback Machine – Accessed October 18, 2006.
- ^ Goldblith pp. 43, 115.
- ^ Goldblith. p. 46.
- ^ a b Dunn. p. 1167
- ^ Goldblith. pp. 119-23.
- ^ Goldblith p. 64.
- Brody, Aaron L. "'The Dean of Food Science':. Food Technology. December 2009. pp. 82-84.
- Wanucha, Genevieve. "Two Happy Clams: The Friendship that Forge Food Science". Food Technology. November 2009. p. 88.