Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Elsie Widdowson
Elsie Widdowson CH CBE FRS (21 October 1906 – 14 June 2000), was a British dietitian and nutritionist. Alongside her research partner, Dr. Robert McCance (pediatrician, physiologist, biochemist, and nutritionist), they were responsible for overseeing the government-mandated addition of vitamins to food and wartime rationing in Britain during World War II.
Widdowson was born in Wallington, Surrey on 21 October 1906 to Rose Elphick and Harry Widdowson. Her father, Thomas Henry (known as Harry), was from Grantham in Lincolnshire and moved to Battersea as a grocer's assistant. Her father eventually owned a stationery business, whilst her mother Rose, originally from Dorking, worked as a dressmaker. Her younger sister Eva Crane trained as a nuclear physicist but became a world-renowned authority on bees. The entire family was a part of the Plymouth Brethren.
As a child, both Elsie and her sister lived in Dulwich, a small village in south London, England. They both attended Sydenham County Grammar School for Girls where there earned prizes and scholarships for their excellence in academia. During the 1920s and 1930s, professional opportunities for women, apart from nursing or teaching, were limited. For this reason, Widdowson decided to train as a chemist in order to develop skills that offered employment potential.
Widdowson became one of the first woman graduates of Imperial College of London after earning her Bachelor's degree in 1928 for chemistry. She continued her postgraduate work at Imperial College in the Department of Plant Physiology. developing methods for separating and measuring the fructose, glucose, sucrose, and hemicellulose of fruit. She would measure individual changes in the carbohydrates in fruit from the time it appeared on the tree to when it ripened. Once a fortnight, she took a train to Kentish apple orchard and picked apples, measuring their carbohydrate levels. In 1931, she received her PhD in chemistry from the Imperial College for her thesis on the carbohydrate content of apples. This work would go on to have international impact. She started work in the University’s department of plant physiology.
While her early studies were primarily plant-based, Widdowson was much more interested in the biochemistry of animals and humans. She did further research with Professor Charles Dodds at the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry at Middlesex Hospital, on the metabolism of the kidneys, and also received a doctorate from the Courtauld Institute.
Widdowson struggled to find a long-term position despite obtaining a doctoral degree from a prestigious institution. Her research professor at the time, Dr. Dodds, suggested that Widdowson consider specializing in dietetics. It was then that she began her postgraduate degree at King's College, London. She learned about the compositions of meat and fish and how cooking affected them.
Widdowson met Robert McCance in the kitchens at King's College Hospital in 1933, when she was studying industrial cooking techniques as part of her diploma on dietetics. McCance was a junior doctor researching the chemical effects of cooking as part of his clinical research on the treatment of diabetes. Widdowson pointed out an error in McCance's analysis of the fructose content of fruit, based on her PhD research. Instead of being offended, McCance obtained a grant for Widdowson to analyze and correct all previous data. From there on they became scientific partners and worked together for the next 60 years, until McCance died in 1993. A few years after the first grant, McCance obtained a second grant for Widdowson to continue working on the food composition of fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
McCance became a Reader in Medicine at Cambridge University in 1938, and Widdowson joined his team at the Department of Experimental Medicine in Cambridge. They worked on the chemical composition of the human body, and on the nutritional value of different flours used to make bread. Widdowson also studied the impact of infant diet on human growth. They studied the differing effects from deficiencies of salt and of water, and produced the first tables to compare the different nutritional content of foods before and after cooking. Their work became of national importance during the Second World War. Widdowson and McCance were co-authors of The Chemical Composition of Foods, first published in 1940 by the Medical Research Council (MRC). Their book "McCance and Widdowson" became known as the dietician's bible and formed the basis for modern nutritional thinking.
Hub AI
Elsie Widdowson AI simulator
(@Elsie Widdowson_simulator)
Elsie Widdowson
Elsie Widdowson CH CBE FRS (21 October 1906 – 14 June 2000), was a British dietitian and nutritionist. Alongside her research partner, Dr. Robert McCance (pediatrician, physiologist, biochemist, and nutritionist), they were responsible for overseeing the government-mandated addition of vitamins to food and wartime rationing in Britain during World War II.
Widdowson was born in Wallington, Surrey on 21 October 1906 to Rose Elphick and Harry Widdowson. Her father, Thomas Henry (known as Harry), was from Grantham in Lincolnshire and moved to Battersea as a grocer's assistant. Her father eventually owned a stationery business, whilst her mother Rose, originally from Dorking, worked as a dressmaker. Her younger sister Eva Crane trained as a nuclear physicist but became a world-renowned authority on bees. The entire family was a part of the Plymouth Brethren.
As a child, both Elsie and her sister lived in Dulwich, a small village in south London, England. They both attended Sydenham County Grammar School for Girls where there earned prizes and scholarships for their excellence in academia. During the 1920s and 1930s, professional opportunities for women, apart from nursing or teaching, were limited. For this reason, Widdowson decided to train as a chemist in order to develop skills that offered employment potential.
Widdowson became one of the first woman graduates of Imperial College of London after earning her Bachelor's degree in 1928 for chemistry. She continued her postgraduate work at Imperial College in the Department of Plant Physiology. developing methods for separating and measuring the fructose, glucose, sucrose, and hemicellulose of fruit. She would measure individual changes in the carbohydrates in fruit from the time it appeared on the tree to when it ripened. Once a fortnight, she took a train to Kentish apple orchard and picked apples, measuring their carbohydrate levels. In 1931, she received her PhD in chemistry from the Imperial College for her thesis on the carbohydrate content of apples. This work would go on to have international impact. She started work in the University’s department of plant physiology.
While her early studies were primarily plant-based, Widdowson was much more interested in the biochemistry of animals and humans. She did further research with Professor Charles Dodds at the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry at Middlesex Hospital, on the metabolism of the kidneys, and also received a doctorate from the Courtauld Institute.
Widdowson struggled to find a long-term position despite obtaining a doctoral degree from a prestigious institution. Her research professor at the time, Dr. Dodds, suggested that Widdowson consider specializing in dietetics. It was then that she began her postgraduate degree at King's College, London. She learned about the compositions of meat and fish and how cooking affected them.
Widdowson met Robert McCance in the kitchens at King's College Hospital in 1933, when she was studying industrial cooking techniques as part of her diploma on dietetics. McCance was a junior doctor researching the chemical effects of cooking as part of his clinical research on the treatment of diabetes. Widdowson pointed out an error in McCance's analysis of the fructose content of fruit, based on her PhD research. Instead of being offended, McCance obtained a grant for Widdowson to analyze and correct all previous data. From there on they became scientific partners and worked together for the next 60 years, until McCance died in 1993. A few years after the first grant, McCance obtained a second grant for Widdowson to continue working on the food composition of fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
McCance became a Reader in Medicine at Cambridge University in 1938, and Widdowson joined his team at the Department of Experimental Medicine in Cambridge. They worked on the chemical composition of the human body, and on the nutritional value of different flours used to make bread. Widdowson also studied the impact of infant diet on human growth. They studied the differing effects from deficiencies of salt and of water, and produced the first tables to compare the different nutritional content of foods before and after cooking. Their work became of national importance during the Second World War. Widdowson and McCance were co-authors of The Chemical Composition of Foods, first published in 1940 by the Medical Research Council (MRC). Their book "McCance and Widdowson" became known as the dietician's bible and formed the basis for modern nutritional thinking.