Effie Alberta Read
Effie Alberta Read (born about 1873 – died September 1, 1930) was an American scientist who researched food safety for the U. S. Food and Drug Administration.
Early life[edit]
Effie Alberta Read was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the daughter of Albert F. Read and Myra A. Davis Read.[1] She attended Mount Holyoke College from 1896 to 1898, but she earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at Cornell University (in 1903, 1906, and 1907, respectively), and a medical degree at George Washington University.[2] Her dissertation topic was the comparative anatomy of olfaction in dogs, cats, and humans.[3]
Career[edit]
While she was a graduate student at Cornell University, she was an assistant in the Histology and Embryology Department, teaching and researching under professor Simon Henry Gage; Gage's expertise in microscopy shaped Read's later work.[4]
Read's work at the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry (the precursor to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration) focused on the detection of adulterated foods,[5] following the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.[6] She invented a quick test, known as the Read Tea Test,[7] for detecting artificial dyes and other impurities in imported tea.[8][9] There were legal objections from tea importers, as to the accuracy of the Read Tea Test.[10][11] The importers' lawsuit was dismissed in 1914.[12]
Read also worked on testing black pepper for added materials.[13] She became the Assistant Chief of the Bureau's Microanalytical Laboratory before her retirement in 1930.[2] She was an associate member of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia from 1914,[14] and active in the Woman's Clinic Auxiliary.[15][16]
Personal life[edit]
Read died weeks after her retirement, in 1930, from ovarian cancer. She was 57 years old.[17][18]
References[edit]
- ^ John William Leonard, Woman's Who's who of America (American Commonwealth Company 1914): 675.
- ^ a b "Effie Alberta Read: Pioneer in the Laboratory" U. S. Food and Drug Administration (February 2018).
- ^ Carla Gillespie, "Women’s History Month: FDA Spotlights Food Safety Pioneer Effie Alberta Read" Food Poisoning Bulletin (March 30, 2013).
- ^ Cornell University, The Register (1906): 301-302.
- ^ "Government Women Who Hold Unique or Lucrative Jobs" Miami News (November 29, 1913): 7. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Experts Detect Fraud by the Tasting Process" Washington Herald (June 15, 1913): 29. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "The Read Tea Test in Court" Journal of the American Asiatic Association (March 1914): 42-44.
- ^ Lori Valigra, "Women’s Role in Reforming Food Safety" Food Quality and Safety (August 6, 2013).
- ^ "Invents New Way for Testing Tea" Topeka State Journal (April 19, 1912): 14. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Struggle over Tea Test" New York Times (December 22, 1913): 11.
- ^ "'Read Tea Test' Case Tried" Simmons' Spice Mill (June 1914): 611-612.
- ^ "Court Decision in Read Tea Test Case" Simmons' Spice Mill (August 1914): 808-812.
- ^ Edith Moriarty, "With Women Today" Sandusky Star-Journal (November 27, 1919): 8. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Proceedings of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia" Washington Medical Annals (March 1914): 156.
- ^ "Woman's Clinic Auxiliary Entertains Workers" Washington Times (April 5, 1914): 16. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Woman's Clinic Has Blazed Path for Medical School for Woman Physicians" Washington Times (August 19, 1914): 8. via Newspapers.com
- ^ American Medical Women's Association, The Medical Woman's Journal 37(1930): 300.
- ^ "Dr. E. Alberta Read Dies" New York Times (September 3, 1930): 27. via ProQuest
External links[edit]
Media related to Effie Alberta Read at Wikimedia Commons
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