Evans, Alice Catherine (1881–1975)

American bacteriologist. Born Alice Catherine Evans, Jan 29, 1881, in Neath, Pennsylvania; died Sept 5, 1975, in Alexandria, Virginia; dau. of William Howell Evans and Anne (Evans) Evans (both of Welsh descent); attended Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, 1898–1901; Cornell University, BS in bacteriology, 1909; University of Wisconsin in Madison, MS, 1910; graduate work at George Washington University and University of Chicago.

Scientist who discovered that the consumption of raw milk or handling of infected animals could cause undulant fever (later named brucellosis), a potentially fatal disease that was recognized as a world threat by the late 1920s; began career studying with Dr. E.G. Hastings and Dr. Elmer V. McCollum at University of Wisconsin's College of Agriculture (1910), the 1st woman awarded a scholarship in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; began to work for US Department of Agriculture's Dairy Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry (1910), the 1st woman permanently employed there, where she demonstrated that raw milk could transmit a bacterium, Bacillus abortus, which caused disease in cattle and humans (1917), one of the most significant discoveries of the early 20th century; appointed bacteriologist in the Hygienic Laboratory at US Public Health Service (1918), later renamed National Institutes of Health (NIH); studied influenza and epidemic meningitis; caught brucellosis (1922) and struggled with the disease for 23 years; retired from NIH (1945); was one of only 2 women delegates at Pasteur Institute's First International Congress in Microbiology (1930); served as honorary president of Inter-American Committee on Brucellosis (1945–57); wrote almost 100 scientific papers and unpublished memoirs; became the 1st woman president of Society of American Bacteriologists (1928, now called American Society for Microbiology). Pasteurization of milk became mandatory for US dairy industry (1930s).