Omega News in The Rattle - The Rattle, Jan. 1952
As appeared in The Rattle - Vol. XXXIX No. 2 - January 1952
“RETIRES’ TO A BUSY PROGRAM
For 30 years professor and head of the department of Agricultural and Biological Chemistry at the Pennsylvania State College, Dr. R. Adams Dutcher, retired on June 30 with emeritus rank. Already he is planning for busy days ahead. Consulting work, in which Dr. Dutcher was engaged long before his appointment at Penn State, will occupy some of his time, and he also plans to do some popular writing on technical subjects. In January, he‘ll make a lecture tour for the American Chemical Society through the South, speaking on “Milestones in Vitamin Research.“
Internationally known for his work on vitamins, foods, and nutrition, when Dr. Dutcher came to Penn State from the University of Minnesota, his first job was to establish a program in vitamin research.
Today the department is recognized as among the best in the country,and, so far as is known, is the only department of agricultural biochemistry in the United States to have been accredited by the American Chemical Society. It has qualified 1,027 students for degrees, among them 71 doctorates, 181 master of science degrees, and 775 bachelor of science degrees. The full-time staff of the department in this 30-year period has grown from 9 to 25 persons, and they have published more than 400 research papers and 15 textbooks and monographs.
Since 1945, Dr. Dutcher has served as chairman of the Council on Research, established in 1928. The council advises on research and patent policies, keeps a record of research in progress, and complies annually the the book “Publications and Research.”
Dr. Dutcher served in World War I as a captain in the Sanitary Corps, U.S. Army; in World War II worked on Projects concerning was efforts. Following the war, the government sent Dr. Dutcher to Germany on a scientific intelligence mission. He reported to the government on the effect of the war and Naziism on the work of many German scientists.
Prior to his appointment at Penn State, Dr. Dutcher served at South Dakota State College, University of Missouri, University of Illinois, Oregon State College, University of Minnesota.
Dr. Dutcher is a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, Federated Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, American Society of Biological Chemists, Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences, British Biochemical Society, Dairy Science Association, Chemists Club of New York, Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Lambda Upsilon, Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Zeta, Alpha Chi Sigma, Acacia and Theta Chi.
Dr. Dutcher now is a secretary of the Food and Nutrition section of the 12th International Congress of Pure and Applied Chemistry that will meet in New York in September as a party of the 75th anniversary meeting of the American Chemical Society. He is also at present serving as counselor-at-large in the Institute of Feed Technologists.
In 1926, Dr. Dutcher published “Chemistry in Agriculture” and in 1931, with D. E Haley, write “Introduction to Agricultural Biochemistry.” Last year, with Dr. C.O. Jensen and Dr. P.M. Althouse, he published an entirely new book, also titled, “Introduction to Agricultural Chemistry.”
Dr. and Mrs. Dutcher plan to maintain their residence in State College, but winter months will be spent at Jasmine Point, New Port Richey, Fla. He already has made arrangements for use of the library and facilities at the University of Florida,
Service Notes
Robert E. Clarke, Penn State, '50, was on November 14 released to inactive duty in the Naval Reserve following more than a year's service in the Amphibious Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Clarke, a journalist second class was recalled to active duty in August, 1950. He plans to resume his former employment in the advertising department of the Pittsburgh Steel Products Co.
Passings
With Bureau of Internal Revenue
A member of the Buses Profits Tax Council in the Bureau of Internal Revenue, William C. Thompson, Penn State, ‘19. died in Washington. D. C. Born in Chicago, he became a resident of Pennsylvania in his early yearn. His graduation from college was postponed because of his participation in World War I, in which he was commissioned a second lieutenant at the age of 20. While a student in the Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia. he became secretary to the late Judge Alex Simpson, Jr., then a justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. After graduation with first honors in 1927, he practiced law in association with the late Senator Franklin S. Edmonds in Philadelphia until July of 1930, at the same time being engaged in part-time teaching in the Law School of Temple University.
In July, 1930, he became special assistant to the attorney general of the United States, and spent more than three years on federal tax cases in various federal courts.
He resigned from this position to become a full time professor of law at Temple, a position he held until 1941, when he received his commission as lieutenant in the Naval Reserve and reported for active duty with the Navy, from which he was released with the rank of captain. He is survived by his wife and two children, Carol and Travis. An elder son was killed in Germany in World War II.