“The next time you pour yourself a glass of milk, raise a toast to Alice Catherine Evans” Rita R. Colwell
Childhood and Education
Alice Catherine Evans was born on January 29, 1881, in Neat (Pennsylvania, United States). She was the youngest of two children born to William Howell and Anne Evans.
She attended local schools, and although she aspired to continue her education, lack of financial resources prevented her from going to university. In 1901, she worked as a teacher, one of the few jobs accessible to women at that time. In 1905, she had the opportunity to complete her training by taking a free two-year course for rural teachers at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture. During these years, she became particularly interested in science and obtained a degree specializing in bacteriology. Alice Evans received a scholarship to continue studying bacteriology and earned her Master’s degree in 1910. She could have then pursued a doctorate, but she declined, preferring to work at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in the dairy division of the Bureau of Animal Industry.
Her Career
At the University of Madison, she worked on a project aimed at finding methods to improve the flavor of cheddar cheese, one of Wisconsin’s main industries. Then, once settled in Washington, she studied bacterial contamination in fresh milk. Based on previous work by Bernhard Bang (Danish veterinarian) and David Bruce (Scottish pathologist), she demonstrated that the bacteria Bacillus abortus and Micrococcus melitensis, responsible for spontaneous abortion in cows and brucellosis in goats, are similar. Her discovery showed that fresh milk can be contaminated by this bacterium and cause brucellosis. Alice Evans presented her work at the annual meeting of the Society of American Bacteriologists in 1917 and published it in a specialized infectious disease journal (“Journal of Infectious Diseases”) in 1918. Alice Evans’s work highlighted the need to pasteurize milk to eliminate pathogens and prevent diseases.
During World War I, milk pasteurization was adopted to protect troops from diseases caused by milk. In 1930, milk pasteurization became mandatory in the United States of America. The use of pasteurized milk significantly reduced the number of patients infected with brucellosis between 1947 and 1961. When Alice Evans joined the Public Health Service’s Hygiene Laboratory (now known as the National Institutes of Health) in 1918, she focused her research on studying and treating diseases such as influenza and streptococcal infections. She also contributed to improving the treatment of meningitis.
Unfortunately, Alice Evans was infected with brucellosis in 1922 while conducting her research. She suffered from “chronic brucellosis and battled this disease for more than 20 years. She retired in 1945 and died in 1975 at the age of 94 following a” stroke.
Scientific Distinctions
In 1927, in recognition of her major contribution to microbiology, Alice Evans was elected president of the Society of American Bacteriologists. She received honorary doctorates from the Women’s Medical College, Wilson College, and the University of Wisconsin. Today, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) annually awards the ASM Alice C. Evans Award to encourage and support women scientists in microbiological research.
Challenges and Opportunities Throughout Her Career
Alice Evans faced several obstacles during her career, including financial difficulties and sexism. Indeed, she had to stop her studies and teach to support herself. She later resumed her studies thanks to a free two-year course offered to rural teachers.
As the first woman in the department, Alice Evans faces criticism when working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Indeed, being a woman and an unknown scientist without a doctorate, her results draw criticism from her peers and the dairy industry. She is accused of having a conflict of interest with pasteurization companies. However, she benefits from the support of her colleagues and is delighted to work within the dairy products division.
Fortunately, Alice Evans does not give up, and her discovery is confirmed by numerous scientific groups a few years later.
She will nevertheless experience a period of misunderstanding as she suffers from chronic brucellosis but is misdiagnosed due to a lack of symptoms for an extended period. It is not until 1928 that she is taken seriously and receives confirmation of her infection. She will take this opportunity to advance knowledge about this disease.
Alice Evans was a true pioneer in the scientific world. Like many, she persisted despite the difficulties encountered, never giving up. She devoted her life to science and deserves to be taken as an example by younger generations.
Written by Akila Rekima and edited by Alizée Morat
Sources:
Rita R. Colwell; Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine; 199; Alice C. Evans: Breaking Barrier
John Parascandola; Public Health Reports, 1998; Alice Evans, An Early Woman Scientist at NIH
Alice Evans | Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/alice-evans
Alice Evans, A Pioneer for Women in Microbiology | ASM.org. (n.d.). ASM.org. https://asm.org/Articles/2023/March/Alice-Evans,-A-Pioneer-for-Women-in-Microbiology
ASM Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women. (n.d.). ASM.org. https://asm.org/Academy/ASM-Alice-C-Evans-Award-for-Advancement-of-Women
Evans, Alice C. 1963 | Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum. (n.d.). https://history.nih.gov/display/history/Evans%2C+Alice+C.+1963#Evans,AliceC.1963-Epilogue
NIH Eminent Scientist Profiles, Alice Catherine Evans (1881–1975) | Office of NIH
