Alice Catherine Evans
| Alice C. Evans | |
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| Born | January 29, 1881 Neath, Pennsylvania |
| Died | September 5, 1975 (aged 94) Washington, D.C. |
| Institutions | US Department of Agriculture United States Public Health Service |
| Alma mater | Susquehanna Collegiate Institute Cornell University University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Known for | Demonstrating that bacillus abortus caused Brucellosis |
Alice Catherine Evans (January 29, 1881 – September 5. 1975) was an American microbiologist. She was born on a farm in Neath, Bradford County, Pennsylvania to William Howell and Anne B. Evans. In 1886 Evans survived Scarlet Fever, as did her brother Morgan. She attended the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute for a year, then became a teacher. After earning a B.S. in bacteriology from Cornell University in 1909 and an M.S. from University of Wisconsin–Madison the following year, she became a researcher at the US Department of Agriculture. There she investigated bacteriology in milk and cheese.
Evans joined the United States Public Health Service in 1918, researching epidemic meningitis and influenza at the department's Hygienic Laboratories. That same year she demonstrated that bacillus abortus caused the disease Brucellosis (undulant fever or Malta fever) in both cattle and humans. (In 1925 she also contracted this disease[1] and suffered from the symptoms for seven years.) Initially her results were not taken seriously (due to her gender and lack of a Ph.D.), but they were later confirmed by other scientists. This led to the pasteurization of milk in 1930, a process she had championed. As a result, the national incidence of Brucellosis was significantly reduced. Evans died September 5, 1975 in Washington D.C.
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Awards and honors [edit]
- First female president of the Society of American Bacteriologists[1]
- Awarded honorary degree in medicine from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1934
- Awarded honorary doctorates of science from University of Wisconsin–Madison and Wilson College, 1936
- Honorary president, Inter-American Committee on Brucellosis, 1945-57
- Honorary member, American Society for Microbiology, 1975
- Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, 1993
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References [edit]
- ^ a b "Medicine:Bacteriologists". Time. January 9, 1928. Retrieved November 26, 2009.
Further reading [edit]
- Burns, Virginia Law (1993). Gentle Hunter. Enterprise Press. ISBN 978-0-9604726-5-9.
External links [edit]
- Evans, Alice Catherine (1881-1975)
- Alice Catherine Evans, Distinguished Women of Past and Present
- Alice Evans, Women of the Hall, National Women's Hall of Fame
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