Alice Catherine Evans

Alice Catherine Evans (January 29, 1881 – September 5, 1975) was an American microbiologist. She became a researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture where she investigated bacteriology in milk and cheese. She proved that Bacillus abortus (called Brucella abortus) caused the disease brucellosis (undulant fever or Malta fever) in both cattle and humans, which led to the pasteurization of milk in the US in 1930. Evans was the first woman president elected by the Society of American Bacteriologists.

Early life and education

Evans was born the younger of two children on a farm in Neath, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, to William Howell Evans, a farmer and surveyor, and Anne B. Evans, a teacher. Neath was named after Neath, Wales, where Evans's paternal grandparents had emigrated from in 1831. Between the ages of five and six, Evans was taught at home by her parents and then attended a one-room school house in Neath, where she earned outstanding grades.

She attended the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute in Towanda, where she played on a women's basketball team. Basketball was a new sport open to women, and viewers were shocked by the unladylike sport. At one game, a doctor refused to treat Evans' dislocated finger.

After graduating, Evans became a teacher. In her memoirs, she wrote that she became a teacher because it was the only profession open to women, but she found it boring. Also, like other female scientists during this period, college was not affordable and teaching was seen as the only option. and as a civil servant, was protected by law. After publishing, Evans decided to let the issue rest, knowing that her findings would be tested and verified with time. Initially, Evans was diagnosed with Neurasthenia due to the lack of recognition of brucellosis. Because Evans was the first woman elected president of the ASM, the American Society for Microbiology later established the Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women in her honor.

Post-retirement and death Evans officially retired in 1945 but continued working in the field. Following her retirement, she became a popular speaker, especially with women's groups. She gave lectures to women about career development and pursuing scientific careers.

After being retired for sixteen years, Evans returned to writing about brucellosis. With the advent of disability insurance, the literature began suggesting malingering as a cause for failing to recover from brucellosis, so Evans encouraged further study into the disease. In 1963, Evans started writing her Memoirs.

Evans had a stroke at the age of 94 and died on September 5, 1975, in Alexandria, Virginia. Her tombstone reads, "The gentle hunter, having pursued and tamed her quarry, crossed over to a new home". Awarded honorary doctoral degree in medicine from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1934 Honorary member, American Society for Microbiology, 1975 Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, 1993 Bacterium Enemella evansiae was named after her, 2020 The viral family Aliceevansviridae is named after her, 2022