PEDIATRICS Vol. 38 No. 5 November 1966, pp. 924
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by LOWE, C. U.
Right arrow Articles by SWEENEY, M. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by LOWE, C. U.
Right arrow Articles by SWEENEY, M. J.

COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION

ROBERT R. WILLIAMS, A MEMORIAL NOTE

CHARLES U. LOWE , DAVID B. COURSIN , FELIX P. HEALD , ROBERT KAYE , DONOUGH O'BRIEN , GEORGE M. OWEN , CHARLES R. SCRIVER , and MICHAEL J. SWEENEY

WITH A note of sadness, the Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics wishes to call to the attention of the membership the death of Robert Ramapatnam Williams. A noted chemist and scientist, Dr. Williams obtained world renown for his work on the isolation, identification, and synthesis of vitamin B1. He died at his home in Summit, New Jersey, in October 1965.

Born in Nellore, India, February 16, 1886, of American missionary parents, he began teaching in the Philippines in 1908 and considered the Islands his second home.

Williams never found time to earn a doctorate, although he attended Ottawa University (Kansas) and the University of Chicago for undergraduate and postgraduate work. He earned a B.S. in 1907 and an M.S. in 1908 and received honorary LL.D. and D.Sc. degrees from numerous universities.

The story of his work with beriberi is one of the most exciting in the field of nutrition. While working in the Philippines in 1910 with the Chemical Division of the Bureau of Science, he became interested in the disease. He assisted in treating an infant dying of beriberi with brown-rice bran syrup. The child's dramatic recovery stirred the synthesis of thiamine chloride. His work culminated in extensive field trials, again in the Philippines, shortly after World War I. For this study, the Bataan peninsula was divided into two parts. In the western area the inhabitants ate plain white rice; those in the eastern area received plain white rice enriched with rice coated with vitamin B1, concentrate. Within weeks the death rate from beriberi dropped dramatically in the eastern area. It remained high in the western area until smugglers began "running in" the treated rice.