150 Points of Pride

The Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has a proud and distinguished history. As part of Iowa State's sesquicentennial celebration, 150 points of pride related to the College - accomplishments, discoveries, contributions, highlights, famous and interesting people - will be posted here. These postings will coincide with 150 days of the 2007-2008 academic year, beginning Aug. 20, 2007 and ending May 2, 2008, with time off for the Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks. Check back each Monday for five new items.

James Olson

James Olson

James Olson received his doctorate from Harvard in 1952. Olson, a pioneer in vitamin A research, was an ISU faculty member for 25 years as a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology and professor of food science and human nutrition. Vitamin A is critical to an individual’s health, including growth and immunity to diseases. Olson was regarded as the leading vitamin A researcher on applications for world nutrition. He and his research team at Iowa State worked on ways to improve the testing of vitamin A levels in persons already affected by illnesses, as well as developing new methods for measuring vitamin A deficiency in humans. 

Fast fact: Olson died Sept. 22, 2000. One of his lesser-known duties was editing his department’s newsletter. The December 2000 issue included his last editorial contributions. As a preface to an article listing new and departing faculty and staff, he wrote: “The steady states that exist in organisms and in cells are highly deceptive, inasmuch as components of cells are constantly being synthesized and catabolized. Indeed, that regulation of these fluxes is crucial to the health of the organism. Academe is not much different, except that people rather than molecules are replaced.”

Bernice Watt

Bernice Watt

Bernice Watt devoted her career to nutritional research. She was born in 1910 in Ames. Her father, William Kunerth, was a physics professor at Iowa State College. She graduated from Iowa State in 1932 with a combined major in foods, nutrition and chemistry. She received a master’s from Kansas State University in 1933. She remained in Manhattan, Kansas, where she served as a food and nutrition research technician and instructor until 1938. She then went to New York and earned a doctorate in nutrition chemistry from Columbia University in 1940. After a brief stint as an assistant professor, she moved to Washington, D.C. to begin a career working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as leader of the USDA Nutrient Data Research Center. During her tenure, the data on nutrients in foods grew from 13 nutrients in 275 foods to 50 nutrients in 3,000 foods. She retired in 1974 and died 10 years later.

Fast fact: During her career, Watt published more than 70 journal articles that evaluate the nutritional content of more than 3,000 foods. The data from her research are used as a standard of reference in not just the United States, but many areas of the world.

John Bremner

John Bremner

John Bremner is regarded as one of the world’s premier soil scientists. The Scotland native was among the first to do research on environmental problems linked to agriculture. As a professor of agronomy and of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State, he became internationally known for his work in soil biochemistry, especially nitrogen and sulfur. Among his most valuable contributions were pioneering research on soil and fertilizer problems and the development of methods necessary to gauge various threats to environmental quality. His research provided the scientific world with a way to study nitrogen despite its instability in soil, providing both the instrumentation and procedures to enable others to study this critical plant nutrient. Bremner was named a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture in 1975.

Fast fact: Bremner was the only researcher in the area of soil chemistry and biochemistry to be elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which occurred in 1984. Only a handful of agricultural scientists have been accorded the honor.

Charles Black

Charles A. Black earned his master’s in 1938 and his doctorate in 1942, both in soil fertility and both at Iowa State College. He was a member of Iowa State’s agronomy faculty from 1939 to 1985, and was named a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture in 1976. For many years, Black felt there should be a way to present sound, scientific information to the nation’s leaders, policymakers and others in key public positions. His concern led to the formation in 1972 of CAST — the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology. Black was CAST’s first president and established the organization in his office on the Iowa State campus. It is a nonprofit organization composed of 38 scientific societies. The primary work of CAST, which now is housed in an office in west Ames, is the publication of task force reports, commentary papers and issue papers written by scientists from many disciplines. During Black’s tenure as president, and then executive vice president, CAST published close to 100 major reports.

Fast fact: The Charles A. Black Award is presented annually for outstanding achievement by a scientist, engineer, technologist or other professional working in the agricultural, environmental or food sectors in contributing to the advancement of science in the public policy arena. The first award was presented to Black in 1986.

E.P. Sylwester

Erhardt Paul (E. P.) “Dutch” Sylwester received master’s and doctorate degrees from Iowa State in 1931 and 1945. He taught at St. Olaf College, where he received his bachelor’s degree, but spent most of his professional career at Iowa State. In 1935, Sylwester received an appointment with Iowa State extension, and worked for 30 years as an extension botanist and plant pathologist. He specialized in weed control, promoting cultural methods. He served as head of the Iowa State Seed Lab from 1946 to 1952. Sylwester helped found the North Central Weed Control Conference, serving as its president in 1950, and was the national chair of the Association of Regional Weed Control Conferences in 1952-1953. Sylwester received numerous awards, including a distinguished faculty citation from Iowa State in 1969.

Fast fact: Bob Hartzler, current extension weed specialist and professor of agronomy, says Sylwester was legendary for his storytelling. Hartzler found a skit in some old files that he believes was written in the early 1950s, because of its emphasis on the promise the weed killer 2,4-D was thought to offer. The skit is posted online here: http://www.weeds.iastate.edu/weednews/24dplay.htm

*Some historic photographs courtesy of the University Archives.

150 Points of Pride Archives