Hazel E. Munsell

Hazel Edith Munsell (April 9, 1891 – February 17, 1989) was an American chemist, educator, and researcher from Massachusetts. A researcher on nutrition and vitamins, she conducted studies at Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Bureau of Home Economics, and in Puerto Rico and Ecuador. She is credited alongside Henry Clapp Sherman with the Sherman-Musnell unit, a measurement of Vitamin A in rats.

Early life Hazel Edith Munsell was born on April 9, 1891, in Monson, Massachusetts, to Nellie (née Smith) and Killey B. Munsell. She also lived in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. She graduated from Monson Academy (later Wilbraham & Monson Academy) in 1909. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College in 1914.

Munsell taught at Stamford Seminary and Union Free schools in Stamford, New York, from 1914 to 1917. She returned to Mount Holyoke and was a research fellow in chemistry from 1917 to 1918. She taught chemistry and physics at Pratt Institute from 1918 to 1921. She graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Arts in 1921 and a PhD in chemistry in 1924. According to The Springfield Republican, she was the first woman from Monson to receive a PhD. She was a member of Kappa Chapter of Sigma Xi. In 1938, she served as specialist of nutrition research. She remained in that role until 1942. The Sherman-Munsell unit is a rat growth unit for the daily amount of Vitamin A which sustains a rate of 3 grams a week in weight gain for standard test rats. It is named for both Henry Clapp Sherman and Munsell.

From 1942 to 1944, Munsell was a research assistant in biochemistry and clinical research at the School of Tropical Medicine in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1950, she went to Quito, Ecuador, to serve as director of the Bromatological Laboratory in support of the National Institute of Nutrition. The work was associated with the Ecuadorian and Pan-American Sanitary Bureau, an agent of the World Health Organization. She remained in Ecuador for seven years to set up a nutrition institute for the United Nations. She also wrote about her travels in the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. Daniel, Esther Charlotte Peterson; Munsell, Hazel E. (1932). The vitamin A, B, C, and G content of Concord grapes Vitis labrusca. Washington, D.C.: Journal of Agricultural Research. Munsell, Hazel E. (1932). Theses in Home Economics. Titles of unpublished theses in field of home economics completed during years 1924–1931. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Home Economics. Munsell, Hazel E. (1938). Vitamin B, methods of assay and food sources. Journal of American Medical Association. Johnson, Doris (1951). Munsell, Hazel E. (ed.). Modern Dietetics. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.