Russell Henry Chittenden

Russell Henry Chittenden (18 February 1856 – 26 December 1943) was an American physiological chemist. He conducted pioneering research in the biochemistry of digestion and nutrition.

Russell Henry Chittenden
Born(1856-02-18)February 18, 1856
New Haven, Connecticut, US
DiedDecember 26, 1943(1943-12-26) (aged 87)
New Haven, Connecticut, US
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
InstitutionsYale University
Columbia University
United States National Research Council
Doctoral advisorWilhelm Kühne
Doctoral studentsLafayette Mendel

Early life and education

He was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1856, graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1875, studied in Heidelberg in 1878-79, and received his doctorate at Yale in physiological chemistry in 1880. He was of English ancestry, his first ancestor in America being Major William Chittenden, an officer in the English army, who, having resigned, came to America from Cranbrook, Kent, with his wife, Joanne Sheaffe, in 1639, and settled in Guilford Connecticut. Ancestors of the professor on both his father's and his mother's side fought in the Revolutionary War. [1]

Career

He was professor of physiological chemistry at Yale from 1882 to 1922. He was director of the Sheffield Scientific School from 1898-1922. He was also professor of physiology at the Yale School of Medicine starting in 1900. From 1898 to 1903 he was also a lecturer on physiological chemistry at Columbia University, New York. He was a founding member of the American Physiological Society in 1887 and served as its president from 1895 to 1904.[2] He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1904, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[3]

He was the author of Digestive Proteolysis and Physiological Economy in Nutrition (New York, 1905). During World War I, Professor Chittenden was a member of the Advisory Committee on Food Utilization and also a member of the Executive Committee of the National Research Council. He is often called the "father of American biochemistry." His home in New Haven is a National Historic Landmark.

Chittenden advocated a low-protein diet.[4]

Russell Henry Chittenden Prize

An annual tradition during Yale College Class Day, the Russell Henry Chittenden Prize is "awarded to the graduating senior in the natural sciences or in mathematics who ranks highest in scholarship."[5] This award was originally given to the highest ranking graduate earning a degree in the Bachelor of the Sciences. Thornton Leigh Page, Andrew M. Gleason, Murray Gerstenhaber, Howard Zimmerman, Guido Calabresi, Jonathan Wahl, Edward Hundert, and Nicholas Christakis have received this award.

Publications

References
  1. Men of Mark in Connecticut: Ideals of American Life Told in Biographies and Autobiographies of Eminent Living Americans, Volume 1 page 116
  2. "Russell Henry Chittenden". Presidents. American Physiological Society. Retrieved 22 March 2015. 3rd APS President (1896-1904)
  3. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
  4. Gilman, Sander L. (2007). Diets and Dieting: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-415-97420-2.
  5. "Russell Henry Chittenden (1926) | Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life". secretary.yale.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  6. Lusk, G. (1905). "Physiological Economy in Nutrition". Science. 22 (563): 464–465. doi:10.1126/science.22.563.464. PMC 5188015. PMID 29811005. p. 465
  7. "Review of The Nutrition of Man by Russell Henry Chittenden". The Athenaeum (4159): 45. July 13, 1907.

Sources
  • Chittenden at Yale Medical School
  • G.R. C., 1944. Russell Henry Chittenden, February 18, 1856 - December 26, 1943. An appreciation. The Journal of Nutrition, 28 (1), 2-6. Article
  • Lewis, H.B., 1944. Russell Henry Chittenden, (1856 - 1943). The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 153 (2), 339-342. Article
  • Vickery, H.B., 1944. Russell Henry Chittenden, 1856 - 1943. National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, 24, 59-104. Article
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