Roger J. Williams
Encyclopedia
Roger John Williams was an American
biochemist
who named folic acid
and discovered pantothenic acid
, and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences
and President of the American Chemical Society
.
, India
, of American missionary parents on 14 August 1893. At age 2, his family returned to the U.S., where he grew up in Kansas
and California
. His formal education culminated in a Ph.D.
degree (magna cum laude
) from the University of Chicago
in 1919. He taught at the University of Oregon
, Oregon State University
, and beginning in 1940, at the University of Texas at Austin
. He authored several widely used textbooks of organic chemistry
and biochemistry
. He became Emeritus Professor
of Chemistry
in 1971, and retired from that position in 1986 at age 92.
While studying the nutrition
of yeast
cells
, he discovered that aneurin
(now named thiamine
or vitamin B1), first described as a vitamin for humans, also promoted the growth of yeasts. This important finding opened the way for the use of microorganisms (yeast and bacteria) in nutritional research, which greatly sped up their discovery and the analysis of their metabolic effects.
Later, again using yeasts, he discovered and isolated pantothenic acid
and found a method for its chemical synthesis
. Later, he concentrated folic acid
, another B vitamin, and named it.
At the University of Texas, he founded and directed the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute (now called the Biochemical Institute) from 1940 to 1963, when he retired from that position. More vitamins and their variants were discovered in this laboratory than in any other laboratory in the world. The Clayton Foundation also promulgated information about Professor Williams's research on nutrition and alcoholism.
Following his retirement from the Directorship of the Institute, he concentrated on human nutrition as his central field of interest, writing several widely read books. After his 80th birthday, he continued to be actively involved, writing and editing several important books dealing with aspects of human nutrition and education. In his brief 1954 autobiography, Williams wrote that he considered his most important work to be the study of individual human differences. http://bioinst.cm.utexas.edu/williams/Autobiogr.htm His ideas on this subject are embodied in the books The Human Frontier and Free and Unequal, as well as his later book Alcoholism: The Nutritional Approach.
Common differences in nutritional needs formed the basis of a vitamin formula Williams developed to diminish the craving for alcohol in people biochemically susceptible to alcoholism
. In a course he taught as a Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin, The Biochemical and Physiological Bases of Individual Human Differences, Williams recounted his experience after publishing a book on this research. Because he had written that alcoholic people who got their individual nutritional needs fully met could drink socially without bingeing, he was assailed by people associated with Alcoholics Anonymous
. Always a humble person, Williams allowed himself to be convinced that the social side of alcoholism was also of major importance. He withdrew his book and destroyed the printing. Williams never attempted to profit from this research; he gave his vitamin formula away to a number of pharmaceutical companies. A version modified by one of his former colleagues, Dr. Donald R. Davis, is sold under the name Vitamin & Mineral Insurance Formula, by Bronson Laboratories. With the formula open-sourced by Williams, no company has completed pharmaceutical research to get US Food and Drug Administration approval for claiming it as a treatment for alcoholism. Williams himself testified before Congress in 1974 that "proposed regulations which would aptly apply to drugs would be inappropriate for nutrients and vice versa."http://bioinst.cm.utexas.edu/williams/256ap.htm
Professor Williams was a member of the National Academy of Sciences
, and was President of the American Chemical Society
in 1957. He received honorary
D.Sc
. degrees from Columbia University
, Oregon State University
and University of Redlands
, his alma mater
. In 1941, for his discovery of pantothenic acid, he received the Mead Johnson Award of the American Institute of Nutrition and the Chandler Medal of Columbia University. In 1972, he served as a member of President Nixon's
Advisory Panel on Heart Disease
.
Williams married Hazel Elizabeth Wood in 1916; they raised three children. After Hazel's death in 1952, he married Mabel Phyllis Hobson the next year. He was an avid fisherman, golfer, walker and fan of University of Texas at Austin athletics
. He died of pneumonia in an Austin nursing home at age 94, and is buried in Austin Memorial Park. His papers are in the University of Texas archives.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
biochemist
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
who named folic acid
Folic acid
Folic acid and folate , as well as pteroyl-L-glutamic acid, pteroyl-L-glutamate, and pteroylmonoglutamic acid are forms of the water-soluble vitamin B9...
and discovered pantothenic acid
Pantothenic acid
Pantothenic acid, also called pantothenate or vitamin B5 , is a water-soluble vitamin. For many animals, pantothenic acid is an essential nutrient. Animals require pantothenic acid to synthesize coenzyme-A , as well as to synthesize and metabolize proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.Pantothenic acid...
, and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and President of the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
.
Biography
Roger John Williams was born in OotacamundOotacamund
Ootacamund , is a town, a municipality and the district capital of the Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Ootacamund is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, of American missionary parents on 14 August 1893. At age 2, his family returned to the U.S., where he grew up in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. His formal education culminated in a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degree (magna cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
) from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1919. He taught at the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
, Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
, and beginning in 1940, at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. He authored several widely used textbooks of organic chemistry
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
and biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
. He became Emeritus Professor
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
of Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
in 1971, and retired from that position in 1986 at age 92.
While studying the nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
of yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
cells
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
, he discovered that aneurin
Thiamine
Thiamine or thiamin or vitamin B1 , named as the "thio-vitamine" is a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex. First named aneurin for the detrimental neurological effects if not present in the diet, it was eventually assigned the generic descriptor name vitamin B1. Its phosphate derivatives are...
(now named thiamine
Thiamine
Thiamine or thiamin or vitamin B1 , named as the "thio-vitamine" is a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex. First named aneurin for the detrimental neurological effects if not present in the diet, it was eventually assigned the generic descriptor name vitamin B1. Its phosphate derivatives are...
or vitamin B1), first described as a vitamin for humans, also promoted the growth of yeasts. This important finding opened the way for the use of microorganisms (yeast and bacteria) in nutritional research, which greatly sped up their discovery and the analysis of their metabolic effects.
Later, again using yeasts, he discovered and isolated pantothenic acid
Pantothenic acid
Pantothenic acid, also called pantothenate or vitamin B5 , is a water-soluble vitamin. For many animals, pantothenic acid is an essential nutrient. Animals require pantothenic acid to synthesize coenzyme-A , as well as to synthesize and metabolize proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.Pantothenic acid...
and found a method for its chemical synthesis
Chemical synthesis
In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...
. Later, he concentrated folic acid
Folic acid
Folic acid and folate , as well as pteroyl-L-glutamic acid, pteroyl-L-glutamate, and pteroylmonoglutamic acid are forms of the water-soluble vitamin B9...
, another B vitamin, and named it.
At the University of Texas, he founded and directed the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute (now called the Biochemical Institute) from 1940 to 1963, when he retired from that position. More vitamins and their variants were discovered in this laboratory than in any other laboratory in the world. The Clayton Foundation also promulgated information about Professor Williams's research on nutrition and alcoholism.
Following his retirement from the Directorship of the Institute, he concentrated on human nutrition as his central field of interest, writing several widely read books. After his 80th birthday, he continued to be actively involved, writing and editing several important books dealing with aspects of human nutrition and education. In his brief 1954 autobiography, Williams wrote that he considered his most important work to be the study of individual human differences. http://bioinst.cm.utexas.edu/williams/Autobiogr.htm His ideas on this subject are embodied in the books The Human Frontier and Free and Unequal, as well as his later book Alcoholism: The Nutritional Approach.
Common differences in nutritional needs formed the basis of a vitamin formula Williams developed to diminish the craving for alcohol in people biochemically susceptible to alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. In a course he taught as a Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin, The Biochemical and Physiological Bases of Individual Human Differences, Williams recounted his experience after publishing a book on this research. Because he had written that alcoholic people who got their individual nutritional needs fully met could drink socially without bingeing, he was assailed by people associated with Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
. Always a humble person, Williams allowed himself to be convinced that the social side of alcoholism was also of major importance. He withdrew his book and destroyed the printing. Williams never attempted to profit from this research; he gave his vitamin formula away to a number of pharmaceutical companies. A version modified by one of his former colleagues, Dr. Donald R. Davis, is sold under the name Vitamin & Mineral Insurance Formula, by Bronson Laboratories. With the formula open-sourced by Williams, no company has completed pharmaceutical research to get US Food and Drug Administration approval for claiming it as a treatment for alcoholism. Williams himself testified before Congress in 1974 that "proposed regulations which would aptly apply to drugs would be inappropriate for nutrients and vice versa."http://bioinst.cm.utexas.edu/williams/256ap.htm
Professor Williams was a member of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, and was President of the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
in 1957. He received honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
D.Sc
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
. degrees from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
and University of Redlands
University of Redlands
The University of Redlands is a private liberal arts and sciences university located in Redlands, California. The university's campus sits on near downtown Redlands. The university was founded in 1907 and was associated with the American Baptist Church. The land for the university was donated by...
, his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
. In 1941, for his discovery of pantothenic acid, he received the Mead Johnson Award of the American Institute of Nutrition and the Chandler Medal of Columbia University. In 1972, he served as a member of President Nixon's
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
Advisory Panel on Heart Disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
.
Williams married Hazel Elizabeth Wood in 1916; they raised three children. After Hazel's death in 1952, he married Mabel Phyllis Hobson the next year. He was an avid fisherman, golfer, walker and fan of University of Texas at Austin athletics
Texas Longhorn Athletics
Texas Longhorns athletics programs include the extramural and intramural sports teams of The University of Texas at Austin. These teams are referred to as the Texas Longhorns , taking their name from the Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and are now the...
. He died of pneumonia in an Austin nursing home at age 94, and is buried in Austin Memorial Park. His papers are in the University of Texas archives.
Books
- Many of Dr. Williams' books were published before the introduction of the International Standard Book NumberInternational Standard Book NumberThe International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering code created by Gordon Foster, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H...
or ISBN, and therefore do not have an ISBN.
- The Human Frontier (Harcourt Brace, 1946)
- The Biochemistry of B vitamins, Roger J. Williams and others (Reinhold Pub. Corp., 1950)
- Free and Unequal: The Biological Basis of Individual Liberty. (Univ. of Texas Press, 1953)
- Biochemical Individuality: The Basis for the Genetotrophic Concept (John Wiley & Sons, 1956; University of Texas Press, 1969 to 1979; Keats Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-87983-893-0) (also translated into Russian, Italian and Polish)
- Alcoholism: The Nutritional Approach (Univ. of Texas Press, 1959 to 1978)
- Nutrition in a Nutshell (1962, Doubleday and Dolphin)
- The encyclopedia of biochemistry, edited by Roger J. Williams and Edwin M. Lansford, Jr. (Reinhold Pub. Corp., 1967)
- You are Extraordinary (Random House, 1967)
- Nutrition Against Disease: Environmental Prevention (Pitman 1971, Bantam Books, 1973)
- Physicians' Handbook of Nutritional Science (C.C. Thomas, 1975)
- The Wonderful World Within You: Your Inner Nutritional Environment (Bantam Books, 1977; Bio-Communications Press 1987–1998)
- The Prevention of Alcoholism Through Nutrition (Bantam Books, 1981)
- Rethinking Education: The Coming Age of Enlightenment (Philosophical Library, 1986).
See also
- Megavitamin therapyMegavitamin therapyMegavitamin therapy is the use of large doses of vitamins, often many times greater than the recommended dietary allowance in the attempt to prevent or treat diseases...
- MetabolomicsMetabolomicsMetabolomics is the scientific study of chemical processes involving metabolites. Specifically, metabolomics is the "systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind", the study of their small-molecule metabolite profiles...
- Nutritional genomicsNutritional genomicsNutritional genomics is a science studying the relationship between human genome, nutrition and health.It can be divided into two disciplines:*Nutrigenomics: studies the effect of nutrients on health through altering genome, proteome, metabolome and the resulting changes in...
- Orthomolecular medicineOrthomolecular medicineOrthomolecular medicine is a form of complementary and alternative medicine that seeks to maintain health and prevent or treat diseases by optimizing nutritional intake and/or prescribing supplements...
- Pantothenic acidPantothenic acidPantothenic acid, also called pantothenate or vitamin B5 , is a water-soluble vitamin. For many animals, pantothenic acid is an essential nutrient. Animals require pantothenic acid to synthesize coenzyme-A , as well as to synthesize and metabolize proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.Pantothenic acid...