Nevin Stewart Scrimshaw (January 20, 1918 – February 8, 2013) was an American food scientist and Institute Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scrimshaw was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the course of his long career he developed nutritional supplements for alleviating protein, iodine, and iron deficiencies in the developing world. His pioneering and extensive publications in the area of human nutrition and food science include over 20 books and monographs and hundreds of scholarly articles. Scrimshaw also founded the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, and the Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation.[1] He was awarded the Bolton L. Corson Medal in 1976 and the World Food Prize in 1991.[2] Scrimshaw spent the last years of his life on a farm in Thornton, New Hampshire, where he died at 95.[3]

Nevin Stewart Scrimshaw
Born(1918-01-20)January 20, 1918
DiedFebruary 8, 2013(2013-02-08) (aged 95)
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materHarvard University (Ph.D.) 1941
University of Rochester (M.D.) 1945
Known forResearch on human nutritional deficiency
ChildrenSusan C. Scrimshaw
AwardsWorld Food Prize (1991)
Scientific career
FieldsNutrition and food science
WebsiteNevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation http://www.inffoundation.org/

Life edit

Scrimshaw came from New England, and spent the 1930s and 1940s there studying nutrition, especially protein combining, alongside his wife and fellow scientist, Mary Goodrich. In the 1950s and 1960s, they lived in Guatemala and India. They designed meals using local vegetables to fight against the scourge of kwashiorkor. In Guatemala they used the combination of cottonseed flour with maize, while in India they combined peanut flour with wheat.[4][5] His daughter is medical anthropologist and academic administrator Susan C. Scrimshaw.[6]

Works edit

  • 1968: (with John Everett Gordon) Malnutrition, learning and behavior, MIT Press
  • 1968: (with Carl E. Taylor and John Everett Gordon) Interactions of nutrition and infection, World Health Organization Monograph #57
  • 1971: (with Alan Berg & David L. Call) Nutrition, national planning and development, MIT Press
  • 1971: (editor with Aaron M. Altschul) Amino acid fortification of protein foods, MIT Press
  • 1974: (editor with Moises Behar) Nutrition and agricultural development: significance and potential for the tropics, Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, Plenum Press
  • 1975: (with Max Milner & Daniel I. C. Wang) Protein resources and technology, Avi Publishing
  • 1982: (with Mitchel B. Wallerstein) Nutrition policy implementation: issues and experience, Plenum Press

Awards and honours edit

References edit

  1. ^ Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation. Nevin S. Scrimshaw, Ph.D., M.D., M.P.H.. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  2. ^ The World Food Prize Foundation. Laureates: Dr. Nevin S. Scrimshaw. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  3. ^ Bryan Marquard (2013) Nevin Scrimshaw obituary from Boston Globe
  4. ^ Scrimshaw obituary from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  5. ^ Nanda, Serena; Warms, Richard (2017). Culture Counts: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Cengage Advantage Books. p. 126. ISBN 9781337514194.
  6. ^ Martin, Douglas (2013-02-13). "Nevin S. Scrimshaw, Pioneer Nutritionist, Dies at 95". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
  7. ^ Institute of Food Technologists. List of IFT past award winners. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

Further reading edit

External links edit