Carl L. Alsberg
Carl L. Alsberg | |
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2nd Commissioner of Food and Drugs | |
In office December 16, 1912 – July 15, 1921 | |
President | William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding |
Preceded by | Harvey Washington Wiley |
Succeeded by | Walter G. Campbell |
Personal details | |
Born | New York City, New York | April 2, 1877
Died | October 31, 1940 Berkeley, California | (aged 63)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Emma Alsberg |
Alma mater | Columbia College |
Carl L. Alsberg (April 2, 1877 – October 31, 1940) was an American chemist who served as Commissioner of Food and Drugs from 1912 to 1921.[1] Alsberg was born to a secular German-Jewish family, the oldest of four children. His father Meinhard, a chemist who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1865, was a founder of the American Chemical Society. Carl Alsberg attended Columbia University, where he founded a literary magazine, The Morningside. He graduated from Columbia College in 1896.[2]
After teaching at Harvard University, Alsberg went to work for the U.S. government in 1908,[3] and within a few years was appointed the Chief of the United States Bureau of Chemistry, which would be renamed the Food and Drug Administration. In that role, Alsberg pursued an investigation into pepper adulteration at McCormick & Company which resulted in a fine and a court order that the company must label its product as "ground black pepper containing from 10 percent to 28 percent added pepper shells". Alsberg also investigated Monsanto's use of saccharin and the amount of caffeine in Coca-Cola.[4]
In 1921, Alsberg resigned from the Bureau of Chemistry and co-founded Stanford University's Food Research Institute.[4]
In 1937, he took a position at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1940, after visiting family in New York, Alsberg became ill with pneumonia on the train trip back to California and died in the hospital on October 31.[3]
References[]
- ^ "Carl L. Alsberg, M.D". Fda.gov. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
- ^ Catalogue of Officers and Graduates of Columbia University from the Foundation of King's College in 1754. New York: Columbia University. 1906. p. 156.
- ^ Jump up to: a b DeMasi, Susan R. (2016). Henry Alsberg : the driving force of the New Deal Federal Writers' Project. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 13–16, 18–19, 35–37, 195, 224. ISBN 978-0-7864-9535-1. OCLC 956984803.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Blum, Deborah (2018). The poison squad. New York, New York: Penguin Press. pp. 273–279. ISBN 978-1-59420-514-9. OCLC 1024107182.
- 1877 births
- 1940 deaths
- American food chemists
- Commissioners of the Food and Drug Administration
- Taft administration personnel
- Woodrow Wilson administration personnel
- Harding administration personnel
- American chemist stubs
- Columbia College (New York) alumni