William Lyman Underwood
(1864–January 24, 1929) was an American
photographer who was also involved in the
research of time-temperature canning
research at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
(MIT) during 1895-96.
Biography
A native
of Boston,
Massachusetts
, Underwood was the second son of William James
Underwood who himself was the only child of William Underwood, the
founder of the William
Underwood Company.
In late 1895, the William Underwood Company decided that they had
had enough with
tin cans that had "swells"
in them, causing a great deal of product loss. This was a problem
they had experienced since the company's founding in 1822.
William
Lyman decided late that year to visit MIT
for
assistance with this problem.
Underwood approached
William
Thompson Sedgwick, the chair of the
biology department at MIT about the concerns he had
with the recent product swells and explosion of
clams. Sedgwick then summoned his assistant
Samuel Cate Prescott and apprised him
on the issue. From late 1895 to late 1896, Prescott and Underwood
worked on the problem every afternoon, focusing on canned clams.
They first discovered that the clams contained some heat-resistant
bacterial
spores that were able to survive the
processing; then that these spores' presence depended on the clams'
living environment; and finally that these spores would be killed
if processed at 250˚F (121˚C) for ten minutes in a retort.
These studies prompted the similar research of canned
lobster,
sardines,
peas,
tomatoes,
corn, and
spinach. Prescott and
Underwood's work was first published in late 1896, with further
papers appearing from 1897 to 1926. This research, though important
to the growth of
food technology,
was never patented.
During the research process, Underwood provided
photomicrographic images of the
bacteria that were involved in the research, which
were magnified 650 times in 1896. A later research article in 1898
showed photography of bacteria magnified 1,000 times.
This research proved beneficial to the William Underwood Company,
the canning industry, the food industry, and food technology
itself. Underwood retired from the William Underwood Company in
1899 to devote himself entirely to
bacteriology studies at MIT. He would work at
MIT without pay. This research and friendship with Prescott would
continue until Underwood's death in 1929.
Death and legacy
In the late 1950s, the new president of the William Underwood
Company, George Seybolt, was brought over by his predecessor, W.
Durant, to MIT to meet Prescott (William Lyman Underwood had died
in 1929).
At the Institute of Food
Technologists Northeast Section (Maine
, Massachusetts
, New
Hampshire
, Rhode Island
, and Vermont
) meeting at
Watertown,
Massachusetts
, in April 1961, the William Underwood Company
dedicated a new laboratory in honor of
both Prescott and William Lyman Underwood. Following
Prescott's death in 1962, the Company created the Underwood
Prescott Memorial Lectureship in memory of both Underwood and
Prescott. This Lectureship would run until 1982. In 1969, Seybolt
donated
US$600,000 to MIT to
create the Underwood Professorship, followed up with an Underwood
Prescott Professorship in 1972. Three MIT faculty have held this
professorship since its inception:
Samuel A. Goldblith,
Gerald N. Wogan, and since 1996,
Stephen R. Tannebaum.
Underwood was also a talented photographer. Besides images in
microbiology, Underwood also
photographed natural environment. His photographs were part of a
book by
John Burroughs as shown in
the second and third external links listed below. One of
Underwood's two brothers, Loring, was also an accomplished
photographer as well.
References
- Goldblith, S.A. (1993). Pioneers in Food Science, Volume 1:
Samuel Cate Prescott - M.I.T. Dean and Pioneer Food
Technologist. Trumball, CT: Food and Nutrition Press. pp.
21-29, 60, 125-6, 128, 130, 171-3.
- Powers, J.J. "The Food Industry Contribution: Preeminence in
Science and in Application." A Century of Food Science.
(2000). Institute of Food Technologists: Chicago. pp. 17-18.
- Schloss, C., J. Snyder, R. Lyons (Editor), L. Underwood
(Photographer), and W.L. Underwood (Photographer). Gentleman
Photographers: The Work of Loring Underwood and William Lyman
Underwood. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
External links
- Photographs by Underwood
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