Katharine Blunt
| Katharine Blunt | |
|---|---|
American Chemist, Nutritionist, and Professor
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| Born | May 28, 1876 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | July 29, 1954 (aged 78) |
| Cause of death | Pulmonary Embolism |
| Education |
Porter School Vassar College Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Chicago |
| Relatives | Charles Henry Smyth, Jr. (first cousin) |
Porter School
Vassar College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Katharine Blunt (1876–1954) was a chemist, professor, and nutritionist who specialized in the fields of home economics, food chemistry and nutrition. Most of her research was done on nutrition, but she also made great improvements to research on calcium and phosphorus metabolism and on the basal metabolism of women and children.
Katharine Blunt was born on May 28, 1876 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the first of three daughters of Stanhope English and Fanny Smyth Blunt.Charles Henry Smyth, Jr., was a first cousin. Blunt attended Porter School in Springfield, Massachusetts, then later enrolled in Vassar College, and studied chemistry. In 1898, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After four years at home, she enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1902. Blunt received her Ph.D in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1907.
Blunt accepted a position as an assistant instructor of chemistry at Vassar College in 1903. In 1905, she left Vassar to study at the University of Chicago and earned a Ph.D in organic chemistry in 1907. Blunt was among a number of educated women with chemistry degrees who became part of the new field of home economics. This field made it possible for women to advance in the academic community. She believed that women who received their education in this new field were not only stretching the limits of their intellectual capacity and improving their imaginative thinking but were "making a direct contribution to wholesome living". Home economics was a field where it was easier and more accepted for women to expand their educations.
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