Marguerite Davis

Lore & Background

Marguerite Davis was born on September 16, 1887, in Racine, Wisconsin, to John Jefferson Davis, a local physician and botanist who taught at the University of Wisconsin. Davis enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in 1906, transferred to the University of California at Berkeley in 1908, and received a bachelor of science degree in home economics in 1910. She returned to the University of Wisconsin for graduate work but did not complete a master's degree. There she began work as a research assistant with McCollum, caring for a large rat colony and helping expand it, enabling ten or more times as many experiments as McCollum alone could manage. In 1913, Davis and McCollum identified 'fat-soluble A' (later vitamin A) and distinguished it from 'water-soluble B' (later vitamin B), publishing their findings in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. After her work at Rutgers and Squibb, she retired and moved to Racine to live with her brother, pursuing history, gardening, and civic affairs.

Reader's Guide

Marguerite Davis's significance lies in her co-discovery of vitamins A and B, which established that specific trace substances in fats and water are essential to life. Working as McCollum's assistant, she managed the rat colony that enabled the large-scale experiments leading to this breakthrough. Their 1913 paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry distinguished fat-soluble A from water-soluble B, laying the foundation for modern nutritional science. Her work, though often overshadowed, was pivotal in demonstrating that vitamins are necessary dietary components, influencing subsequent research on deficiency diseases and dietary guidelines. Davis's legacy is also marked by her civic leadership in Racine, where she was honored in 1958.

Did You Know?

• Davis was physically handicapped by severe burns received at age ten when her clothing caught fire at a bonfire.
• She was unpaid for five of her six years working in McCollum's lab, receiving $600 only in her final year.
• After Davis left Madison, the rat colony she helped build was cared for by Nina Simmonds from 1916 to 1929.
• Davis was recognized for her civic contributions by Racine's Women's Civic Council in 1958.

Note

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