Marguerite Davis
Marguerite Davis was an American biochemist, co-discoverer of vitamins A and B with Elmer Verner McCollum in 1913.
In his 1964 autobiography, McCollum attributes his success in nutrition research to two people: Davis and Stephen Babcock. He also 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.
She earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics in 1910 at the University of California, Berkeley. She then returned to the University of Wisconsin where she started but did not complete a master's degree. She moved to New Jersey, to work for the Squibb Pharmaceutical Company, later returning to the University of Wisconsin to teach and do research for a number of years.
In 1913, Davis and McCollum identified what they termed fat-soluble A and water-soluble B, renamed later vitamins A and B, after long research on rats.
Davis founded the nutrition laboratory at the University of Wisconsin. She later helped Rutgers University in New Jersey form a nutrition lab as part of its School of Pharmacy. She pursued history and gardening after her retirement in 1940.
Davis died in Racine three days after her eightieth birthday on September 19, 1967.
