Icie Macy Hoobler: Pioneer Woman Biochemist Sheldon J. Kopperl History of Science Program, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49401 As the laboratory director responsible for determining many of the optimal vitamin and mineral requirements in the 1920's and 1930'9, Icie M a w Hoobler's scientific contributions were significant in their own right. In addition, however, her career can serve as an inspiration to women who even today are hesitant to pursue a scientific career. Not only did her perseverance in the male-dominated realm of chemistry lead to her acceptance as an equal partner, she also served in 1930-1931 as the first female chair of an American Chemical Society local section (Detroit) and division (Biological Chemistry). During her 25-year active career, mainly at the Children's Hospitalof Detroit in conjunction with the Merrill-Palmer School, she published well over 200 papers and ten monographs. She always felt that her success was largely due to her having available at every step of her educational development a mentor to direct her toward her ultimate goal. This paper will emphasize this aspect of her life, but will also briefly examine her major contributions to nutritional science. Macy was born into a farm family in 1892 in Daviess County, Missouri. Her parents had received little formal schooling and were willing to make sacrifices to ensure that their four children would have the best education possible. At boarding school she followed her father's wishes and concentrated on music, although she enjoyed her science classes more. In 1914 she received an AB degree in music from Central College for Women in Lexington, Missouri. By that time Macy's interest in science had become more pronounced, and she persuaded her parents to allow her to continue her studies t o obtain a BS degree a t the University of Chicago, which she received in 1916. Here she was inspired by an ideal and role model, Mary Sherrill, achemistry instructor a t Randolph-Macon College who spent summers at Chicago pursuing her doctorate. Another instructor a t Chicago, Julius Stieglitz, urged her to do graduate work-specifically to obtain a doctorate with him after earning a masters degree elsewhere. She enrolled a t the University of Colorado and became attracted to physiological chemistry, which was taught by Robert C. Lewis, who had received a doctorate a t Yale with Lafayette B. Mendel, one of America's leaders in biochemical nutrition. Macy was awarded her MS degree in 1918. Lewis suggested that Macy also study with Mendel, reasoning that a woman would have more career opportunities in nutrition-related chemical science (no doubt because of its close ties with home economics)! Consequently, she enrolled at Yale in 1918. Although Macy's doctoral study involved the value and danger of cotton seeds (important because of wartime needs), her future research area was discussed in a lecture Mendel presented about the dairy industry. He mentioned that little was known about the chemistry of human milk; Macy claims that this lecture remained in her memory and inspired her later work. Upon graduation in 1920 Macy worked a t the West Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh as the staff biochemist. Her duties included teaching urinalysis and hematology to interns. She then became a part-time teacher in the Department of Household Science a t the University of California a t Berkeley. While there she was visited by both Mendel and Elmer V. McCollum of Johns Hopkins who reviewed her
research activities. They recommended her for the directorship of a new research program at the Merrill-Palmer School, an establishment for educating young mothers in Detroit, for which they served as consultants. Macy accepted the directorship and remained in that position from 1923 until her retirement in 1959 althoueh technically in 1931 the Children's Fund of Michigan took over the actual running of the program. Laboratory facilities were made available at the nearby Children's Hospital. In 1938 Macvmarried B. Ravmond Hoobler. former director of Childre& Hospital; hedied in 1943. After her retirement she remained a consultant to the Merrill-Palmer Institute until 1974. Prior to her death in 1984 Macy remained current in professional areas of interest despite rapidly failing eyesight. Among her most significant scientific accomplishments she developed methods for testing human's, cow's, and goat's milk for composition and comparative value; she studied the metabolism of woman and children and the growth of infants and children: she studied the influence of certain dietary factors on nutrients of mother's milk. She also investigated the amino acid composition of milk and animal tissues and their variation in foods; she conducted gastrointestinal studies of children, and bone development studies. Her research group also did tests on the amount of vitamin C in orange juice. They also investigated the composition of humanblood cells, the best known of these &dies involving her working with Thomas J. Cooley of Children's Hospital on Cooley's disease. She alsoexamined the addition of iodine to salt and observed that i t stimulated the utilization of calcium in children. She took on long-term studies of metabolism, diet, and growth. a sort of "chemical anthronoloev" (the . title chosen For her'most popular book). As a result of this work, many dietary standards were set for children at various stages of development and for pregnant and lactating women. She also helped to set standards for dailv vitamin reauirements for all adults. Macy promoted g&d nutrition and diet through her work with the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Science; and the publication of another popular book titled Hidden Hunger. Macy believed that active participation in professional and community activities was a responsibility of the scientist. In nddition to the offices she held in the American Chemical S(tciety, she was elected secretary (1934-1938) and resident (194.21 of the American Institute of Nutrition: president (194711948) of the Michigan Academy of science; Arts, and Letters: and served as a member of the orieinal governing board (i960-1968) of Grand Valley State coYlege (Michigan). Recognized by her profession, she received the 1945 Frances P. Garvan Award from ACS as the year's outstanding woman chemist. &
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Blbnography Unfortunately no readily accessible discussion of her work exists.The memoirs referred to in the text were published as Hoobler. 1. C . M. Bound1e.s~Horizons; Exposition: Smithtown, NY, 1982. The first of the two hooks referred to above is Macy, I. G.; Kelly. H. C. Chemical Anthropologj: A New A ~ ~ r m o ctoh Crou.th in Childrm: Universitv oi Chicaeo: chicago, 1957. The second is ~ a c iI., G.; ~ f l l i a m sH. , 3. Volume 65 Number 2 February 1988
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Hidden Hunger; Cattell: Lancaster, PA. 1945. A series of three volumes contains the bulk of her most important research data as well as their interpretation These hooks are Macy, I. G. Nutrition and Chemical Growth in Childhood; Thomas: Springfield, IL, 1942,1946,
98
Journal of Chemical Education
1951.An extensive archive of her personal papers are on file at the Bentley Historical Library of the Universitv of Michigan (Ann Arbor). The materialin this article c a k e from a study of her papers as well as several extensive personal interviews conducted between 1980 and 1982.
