Agnes Fay Morgan

Agnes Fay Morgan (May 4, 1884 – July 20, 1968) was an American chemist and academic. She was the longtime chair of the home economics program at the University of California. Her program was strongly grounded in science, and students admitted into the program were required to have a level of science education that was not typical of home economics programs at the time. Morgan was one of the earliest married female college professors in the United States.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, Morgan held brief teaching appointments at smaller schools before earning a doctorate and taking the position at Berkeley. Morgan's lab conducted significant research into the nutritional composition of foods and the biochemistry of vitamins, especially pantothenic acid (vitamin B5). Her work correlated decreasing bone density with increasing age and connected serum cholesterol levels with dietary fat intake. Her work also focused on the influence of storage and heat processing on food values.

Morgan remained associated with Berkeley for more than 50 years, and though she retired in 1954, she was active in her field until just before her death. She received the Garvan Medal from the American Chemical Society and the Borden Research Award from the Borden Company Foundation. At Berkeley, the campus nutrition laboratory is named in her honor. Iota Sigma Pi, an American chemistry honor society, presents the Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award to outstanding women in the field.

Early life Agnes Fay was born in 1884 in Peoria, Illinois.

Fay enrolled at the University of Chicago as a physics major, but she changed her major to chemistry after taking a course in that subject from Julius Stieglitz. Fay completed a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in chemistry in 1904 and 1905, respectively.

While teaching at the University of Montana in 1907–08, Fay married Arthur I. Morgan, who was a senior football player at the university. Though Fay had been Morgan's chemistry teacher, Morgan was four years older than Fay, having enrolled at Montana after military service in the Spanish–American War. Arthur Morgan became the headmaster of a boys' school and later worked for the Sperry Flour Company, becoming its vice president.

After teaching at the University of Washington from 1910 to 1912, Morgan completed a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Chicago in 1914.

Morgan waited until her academic rank was secure before becoming pregnant. She had a son named Arthur Ivason Jr. in 1923

As a department chair, Morgan was known as a stern leader. Though she attracted top faculty members, Morgan was looked upon fearfully by many in home economics. She wrote 254 publications that included papers on effects of heat. She became best known for her work examining the effects of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) on adrenal gland function. In her early research work, Morgan analyzed processed foods and characterized their vitamin composition. She was the first to establish that a preservative, sulfur dioxide, protected vitamin C but damaged thiamine. From Morgan's contributions in the nutrition safety industry, led to the discovery and characterization of vitamin E, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, and vitamin K.

In 1938, the Department of Home Economics was moved under the College of Agriculture, and all of the faculty members became affiliated with the California Agricultural Experiment Station. Late in her career, she was involved in an Agricultural Experiment Station project that examined nutrition among older people in San Mateo County. That work yielded two important conclusions: that bone density began to decline in women between the ages of 50 and 65, and that dietd/ary fat intake led to increases in serum cholesterol. Garvan became the first female professor named Faculty Research Lecturer at Berkeley in 1951; Morgan was selected for the honor by her Berkeley faculty colleagues.

Though she officially retired in 1954, Morgan continued to come to the office for nearly the rest of her life. Forty of her papers were published after her retirement date. Following a heart attack in early July 1968, Morgan died on July 20, in Berkely . At the time of her death, she still headed the selection committee for new fellows of the American Institute of Nutrition.

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