Stephen Moulton Babcock | |
|---|---|
 Babcock in 1903 | |
| Born | 22 October 1843 |
| Died | 2 July 1931(1931-07-02) (aged 87) |
| Education | Tufts College (B.S., 1866) Cornell University University of Göttingen (Ph.D., 1879) |
| Known for | the Babcock test for butterfat |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | agronomy chemistry |
| Institutions | New York Agricultural Experiment Station University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Doctoral advisor | Hans Hübner[1] |
Stephen Moulton Babcock (22 October 1843 – 2 July 1931) was an American agriculturalchemist. He is best known for developing theBabcock test, used to determinebutterfat content inmilk andcheese processing, and for thesingle-grain experiment that led to the development ofnutritional science as a recognized discipline.
Babcock was born on a farm inBridgewater, New York to Peleg and Cornelia Babcock.[2] He earned a B.A. fromTufts College in 1866 and attendedCornell University from 1872 to 1875, before studyingorganic chemistry at theUniversity of Göttingen, Germany, from which he received a Ph.D. in 1879.[2] Upon his return to the United States in 1881, Babcock took up the role of anagricultural chemist at theNew York State Agricultural Experiment Station inGeneva, New York,[2] where his first assignment was to determine the proper feed ratios ofcarbohydrate,fat, andprotein using chemical analysis of cowexcrement. He determined that the excrement's chemical composition was similar to that of the feed, the only major exception being theash content. These results were tested and retested, and his results were similar to German studies done earlier. This led Babcock to wonder what would happen if cattle were fed a single grain (barley,corn, orwheat), though that test would not be carried out for nearly twenty-five years.
In 1888, Babcock accepted a position at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison Agricultural Experiment Station (UWAES) as chair of the agricultural chemistry department. He immediately petitioned Dean of Agriculture William Henry, then station director, to carry out the "single-grain experiment", but Henry refused. In 1890, he developed theBabcock test which determines thebutterfat content ofmilk.[2] He then worked withbacteriologistHarry Luman Russell in developing the cold-curing process for ripeningcheese (1897). The Babcock test set the worldwide standard for butterfat determination of milk, while the cold-curing process enabledWisconsin to become the leading cheese producer in the United States.
Babcock continued pressing William Henry to perform the "single-grain experiment" and even unsuccessfully approached the UWAESanimal husbandry chair J. A. Craig. Craig was replaced in 1897 by W. L. Carlyle, who was more receptive to Babcock's proposal. He initially tried asalt experiment with eight dairy cows as a matter of taste preference, while eight other cows received no salt. After one of the eight cows that did not receive salt died, Carlyle discontinued the experiment, and all of the remaining cows were given salt in order to restore their health.
William Henry, who became dean of agriculture in 1901, finally gave Babcock permission to perform the single-grain experiment. Carlyle approved the experiment with only two cows. One cow was fed corn, while the other was fed rolled oats and straw with the expectation that the experiment would last one year. Three months into the trial, the oat-fed cow died, and Carlyle halted the experiment to save the other cow's life. The result was not published, mainly because Babcock had not recorded how much of each grain the cows had consumed.
In 1906, a chemist from theUniversity of Michigan,Edwin B. Hart (1874-1953), was hired by Babcock. Hart had previously worked at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station and had studiedphysiological chemistry underAlbrecht Kossel in Germany. Both worked with George C. Humphrey, who replaced Carlyle as animal husbandry professor, to plan a long-term feeding plan using a chemically balanceddiet of carbohydrates, fat, and protein instead of single-plant rations as had been tried in Babcock's earlier experiment. The "single-grain experiment" was thus born in 1907.
From May 1907 to 1911, the experiment was carried out with Hart as director, Babcock providing the ideas, and Humphrey overseeing the welfare of the cows during the experiment.Elmer McCollum, an organic chemist fromConnecticut, was hired by Hart to analyze the grain rations and the cow excrement. The experiment called for four groups of fourheifer calves each, and three groups were raised and twopregnancies were carried to term during the experiment. The first group ate only wheat, the second group ate onlybran, the third group ate only corn, and the last group ate a mixture of the other three.
In 1908, it was shown that the corn-fed animals were the most healthy of the group, while the wheat-fed groups were the least healthy. All four groups bred during that year, with the corn-fed calves being the healthiest, while the wheat and mixed-fed calves werestillborn or later died. Similar results were found in 1909. In 1910, the corn-fed cows had their diets switched to wheat and the non-corn-fed cows were fed corn. This produced unhealthy calves for the formerly corn-fed cows while the remaining cows produced healthy calves. When the 1909 formulas were reintroduced to the respective cows in 1911, the gestation results of 1909 reoccurred. These results were published in 1911. Similar results had been determined in theDutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1901, in Poland in 1910, and in England in 1906 (though the English results were not published until 1912).
This experiment helped the development ofnutrition as a science.
Babcock died in 1931, inMadison, Wisconsin, from a heart attack suffered during a heat wave.[3] His estate was left to the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agriculture. By a decision of the deans, a housing cooperative for male students studying agriculture was established in the Babcock home and named in his honor. Babcock House is the oldest continuously operatingstudent housing cooperative in Wisconsin and is now open to male and female students of any course of study.
In World War II, the United StatesLiberty shipSSS. M. Babcock was named in his honor.
In 1948, theInstitute of Food Technologists created the Stephen M. Babcock Award (now theBabcock-Hart Award) in honor of Babcock's achievements. Additionally, theFood Science Department building at the University of Wisconsin in Madison was named in Babcock's honor in 1952. The Institute of International Dairy Research and Development at Wisconsin was also named in Babcock's honor.
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