Biographical Memoirs Volume 89 (2007) / Chapter Skim
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GEORGE KELSO DAVIS
GEORGE KELSO DAVIS
Pages 58-75
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From page 58... ...
Photo Courtesy of the American Institute of Nutrition Archives, Vanderbilt University
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From page 59... ...
He directed the first use of radioisotopes for nutrition studies in large domestic animals, which led to many seminal findings in mineral metabolism. George Davis was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1910, the son of Ross Irwin Davis and Jennie ("Jeanne")
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From page 60... ...
and was an associate editor of the Penn State Farmer, the freshman handbook, and La Vie, a campus paper, for which he was fraternity editor. Although he had won his letter in football and other sports in high school, he was much too lightweight (145 pounds at that time)
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From page 61... ...
This involved many Kjeldahl nitrogen analyses, but the pay was better than that for the scholarship and it was on a 12-month basis. When it began to look as if George might become a poultry nutrition convert, Maynard stepped in with an assistantship in the animal nutrition laboratory that allowed George to carry out his own graduate research.
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From page 62... ...
By incorporating cod liver oil into the diets of these herbivores to supply vitamins A and D, Davis found that a muscle dystrophy developed that involved both heart and other striated muscles. Because of the heart damage Davis observed, he and his colleagues had the idea of running electrocardiographs on the animals.
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From page 63... ...
He accepted a position as assistant professor and research chemist at Michigan State in the Experiment Station's Chemistry Department. There he worked with Vern Freeman on swine nutrition, particularly with the problem of necrotic enteritis, as well as with other faculty on projects involving horses, sheep, and beef cattle.
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From page 64... ...
The Davis family grew in East Lansing with daughters Dorothy Jeanne, twins Mary Ellen and Ruth-anna Marie, and Virginia Kay being born there. His trace element studies led in 1942 to an invitation to join the faculty at the University of Florida as a professor of nutrition and animal nutritionist in the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.
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From page 65... ...
Seeking a method that would enable them to determine whether cobalt was a factor in "salt sick," Davis, at the point when chemical determination of cobalt content failed, considered the possibility of using radioactive tracers. He purchased a Herbach and Radiman Geiger counter (one of the earliest gamma counters)
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From page 66... ...
At a conference to discuss the availability of isotopes from Oak Ridge, Davis stated that it was clear from the presentations made that of all the universities that received radioisotopes during World War II, only the University of Florida's program produced results. Between 1942 and 1960, about 700 scientific papers were published from the nutrition lab at Florida.
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From page 67... ...
Following the application of copper sulfate to the pasture land, cattle that, when placed on pasture prior to market had averaged gains of six pounds per animal, improved to an average gain of 156 pounds per animal, with an increase in grade. Practical improvements such as these literally built the cattle industry in Florida, with lasting commensurate financial rewards.
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From page 68... ...
It had been described in their literature for many years, but never systematically approached until this work, and in five years we had not only solved the puzzle but in addition had shown that green growing plants can produce an active form of vitamin D In 1960 Davis assumed the additional responsibility of Director of Nuclear Sciences at the University of Florida.
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From page 69... ...
He was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Penn State in 1982. At the University of Florida he received the Senior Faculty Award of Gamma Sigma Delta and Faculty Award of Florida Blue Key Honorary, among other honors.
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From page 70... ...
and Ruthanna W Davis Scholarship Fund provides graduate students selecting nutritional sciences as a graduate major with a $5,000 annual salary supplement.
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Much of this is available in the University of Florida archives at http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/archome/MS24.htm. That information includes his mention of numerous colleagues at the University of Florida with whom George worked very productively over his long career at this university.
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From page 72... ...
The relation of nutrition to the development of necrotic enteritis in swine. In Michigan State Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin 170.
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From page 73... ...
Soft tissue calcification in guinea pigs fed the poisonous plant Solanum malacoxylon.
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From page 74... ...
Copper. In Trace Elements in Human and Animal Nutrition, 5th ed., ed.
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