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Wilbur Olin Atwater
Wilbur Olin Atwater (1844-1907) was a pioneer in the study of nutrition, and many of his areas of research, including the nutritive value of foods, and the dietary and economic needs of low-income families, are still emphasized in USDA programs today.
His papers include early United States Department of Agriculture dietary guidance. The collection contains details of Atwater's study of the chemical composition of various foods, and his development and experiments with respiration calorimeters.
The photographs below show experiment subjects demonstrating the types of tasks performed within the calorimeter to study the energy expended during specific activities. The calorimeter consisted of a room, with arrangements for analyzing the composition of the incoming and outgoing air, in which a subject's carbon dioxide output is measured. A later modification also allowed measurement of oxygen uptake.
Wilbur Olin Atwater graduation portrait
Calorimeter subject ironing clothes, Washington D.C.
Calorimeter subject washing clothes, Washington D.C.
Calorimeter subject knitting, Washington D.C.
Subject on bicycle ergometer
Subject in respiration calorimeter at lunch
Device for the removal of the respiratory products from the respiration chamber
Wilbur Olin Atwater
Lowering bananas into a small calorimeter
Observer operating large calorimeter, Washington D.C.
Subject emerging from large respiration calorimeter, Washington D.C.
Respiration calorimeter, Washington D.C.
Dr. Wilbur Olin Atwater (1844-1907), first director of the first state-supported agricultural experiment station (Connecticut) and the first director of the Federal Office of Experiment Stations
Wilbur Olin Atwater's summer school students at Wesleyan University
Front view of respiration calorimeter. Air pump, water meter, observers table and entrance to the respiration chamber are shown in detail. The large balance at the left of the picture is used for weighing the caron-dioxide and water absorbers and the oxygen cylinder. Judd Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.