Marguerite Davis

Early life Davis was born on September 16, 1887, in Racine, Wisconsin, to John Jefferson Davis, a local physician and botanist, who taught at the University of Wisconsin. In his 1964 autobiography, Elmer Verner McCollum says that Davis was physically handicapped by severe burns that she received at age ten while playing at a bonfire when her clothing caught fire.

Education Davis' background and scientific interests led her to enroll at the University of Wisconsin in 1906. In 1908, she transferred to the University of California at Berkeley and received her bachelor of science degree in home economics in 1910. After graduation, Davis returned to the University of Wisconsin where she completed some graduate work, but did not complete a master's degree. At the University of Wisconsin, Davis began her work as a research assistant with McCollum. They were attempting to create mixtures that could replace food in animal diets, specifically studying trace chemicals in foods that are essential to life. These substances were called "vitamines", as they hypothesized that they were the organic molecule "amines". after long research on rats. The discovery of two vitamins paved the way to further research in nutrition.

Their discovery of fat-soluble Vitamin A and water-soluble Vitamin B was first published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1913 in the paper "The Necessity of Certain Lipins in the Diet during Growth".

Career Davis founded the nutrition laboratories at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She briefly moved to New Jersey to work for the Squibb Pharmaceutical Company and later helped Rutgers University form a nutrition lab as part of its Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. In 1940, she returned to the University of Wisconsin to teach and do research for a number of years.

In 1940, Davis retired, returning to her hometown of Racine to live with her brother, John Archibald “Archie” Davis, in their family home. Davis pursued history and gardening after her retirement, and was active in local civic affairs. She was recognized for her contributions as a civic leader by Racine's Women's Civic Council in 1958. After Davis left Madison, the rat colony that Davis helped build and care for was cared for by Nina Simmonds from 1916 to 1929.

Selected publications