William Conan Davis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Conan Davis
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| Born | August 22, 1926 Waycross, Georgia, U.S.
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| Died | March 16, 2022 (aged 95) |
| Other names | William C. Davis |
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Ocia Davis
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Food chemistry |
| Institutions | St. Philip's College |
| Doctoral advisor | Duane Le Tourneau |
William Conan Davis (born August 22, 1926 – died March 16, 2022) was a smart scientist and a professor. He taught at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas. A science building there is named after him.
He was famous for his work in food chemistry. He found a special substance called arabinogalactan. This discovery helped create instant mashed potatoes. His ideas also made potato chips and soft serve ice cream better. He even helped make a special glue for wood. Later, he helped create the recipe for Dasani water.
Besides science, he was a Lutheran church leader. He fought in the Korean War and received the Purple Heart medal.
Contents
Early Life and School
William Conan Davis was born in Waycross, Georgia, on August 22, 1926. His father, Kince Charles Davis, was a railway engineer. His mother was Laura Jane Cooper. William's father's family had Ethiopian Jewish roots.
Kince Davis faced threats because of his job. He later started a business selling herbal medicine. This was often the only healthcare black people in Georgia could get. William spent summers with his grandfather, Jonnas Franklin. He was a Sioux Indian who farmed and hunted.
William went to Magnolia Grammar School and Dasher High School. He finished high school in 1944. His family cared a lot about education and civil rights. Once, his father drove William and his brother Kenneth 300 miles. They went to a workshop with famous scientists George Washington Carver and Henry Ford. This trip made William want to become a chemist.
Dasher High School did not prepare students well for college science. So, in 1944, William moved to New York City. He lived with his older brother, Ossie Davis, who was an actor and civil rights activist. William attended Dwight High School. He took special science classes and graduated in 1945.
He briefly went to the City College of New York. Then he moved to Talladega College in Alabama. There, he could get more help with difficult subjects like calculus.
Military Service and College
William was part of the U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps. During his first year at Talladega, he was called to serve in the Korean War. He became a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He served in Germany and received a Purple Heart medal in 1953.
After the war, he finished his chemistry degree at Talladega College in 1956. He was one of three students chosen for a special research fellowship. This allowed him to attend Tuskegee Institute in 1956. At that time, it was very hard for black scientists to get research training in the U.S.
William was determined to do research. He worked with Clarence T. Mason at Tuskegee. He studied how compounds in jet fuel broke down. This research even let him meet Wernher von Braun, a famous rocket scientist. William earned his Master of Science degree in organic chemistry from Tuskegee in 1958.
Discovering New Things
It was very hard for a black student to find a university that would support a Ph.D. research program. Only the University of Idaho accepted Davis as a research student. So, William and his wife Ocia moved to Moscow, Idaho.
His research there involved potatoes. He studied how plant materials break down, a process called sloughing. This is important for food. For example, soup makers want potatoes that stay firm. But for mashed potatoes, you want them to break down easily.
Meanwhile, a research group at Washington State University needed summer researchers. They wanted to study why particles built up on saw blades in lumber mills. William applied and found the cause. He found a dry, crystal-like powder. When water was added, it became a sticky paste. This substance was arabinogalactan. It comes from Western Larch trees and other plants. At the time, no one knew what to do with it.
Back at the University of Idaho, William studied potato chips. He wanted to know why they blistered when fried. He found the substance that caused blistering. But when he removed it, the potatoes fell apart.
Feeling stuck, William tried adding arabinogalactan to his potato mixtures. The potatoes absorbed the water and became fluffy! This improved how potatoes broke down. It also created instant mashed potatoes with a much better texture.
While finishing his Ph.D., William worked with other scientists. He did more research on getting arabinogalactan from larch trees. He also found a sugar that makes frozen desserts smoother. This sugar is used to make soft-serve ice cream. He also helped find a wood sugar used in industrial glue for pressed wood. Most of these discoveries were not patented by him. Others later developed them further.
William received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Idaho in 1965. His Ph.D. paper was about potatoes. He was the first African-American to get a Ph.D. from the University of Idaho.
Later Career and Impact
After graduation, William worked at Washington State University. He researched substances called antigens for hay fever.
He then worked at the Bronx Veteran's Affairs Hospital. There, he learned special techniques to test for hormones in the blood. He used this knowledge to create standard tests. These tests could find thyroxin, insulin, and growth hormones in the blood. This helped doctors treat patients with conditions like diabetes.
William became the head of the radioactivity department at United Medical Laboratories. He later became the director of the entire laboratory. He spent almost fifteen years as director.
[At United Medical Laboratories] we provided analyses for doctors all over the world, and devised methods for reducing the time and cost of conducting clinical assays to develop detect concentrations of hormones and steroids in the blood such as aldosterone, estrogen, and testosterone ... We made exotic procedures routine and brought their price down. Using autoanalyzers when they had just come out, we could perform tests more quickly than they could be done locally.
William was concerned that black people in Portland did not have enough medical care. So, he helped start the Fred Hampton Memorial Clinic in 1970. This clinic offered free medical services to everyone. He was one of the few black professionals who volunteered there. He was very involved in helping people with sickle-cell anemia. The clinic focused on testing, teaching, and counseling about this genetic disorder.
From 1979 to 1982, William worked at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He studied how different substances affect brain cells.
In 1983, William became a chemistry instructor at St. Philip's College. He enjoyed teaching and research there. He became a full professor in 1995. In 1996, he became the head of the Natural Sciences Department. He also directed the Renewable Energy program.
I tell my students to be curious about everything — and ask, 'How can I improve this? How can I be of service?'
At St. Philip's College, William focused on water. He worked with a company to study "kinetic water." He looked at its boiling point, pH, and other properties. With Lanier Byrd, William helped create the special taste for Dasani water, a product of The Coca-Cola Company. He was also interested in DNA and fuel cell technology for renewable energy.
William retired in 2009. The natural sciences building at St. Philip's College was renamed the William C. Davis Science Building in his honor. A painting of him hangs in the building.
'Observe!' I have instructed my students to do thousands of times. We can take two or more existing things, analyze them for what they are, and then synthesize something entirely new that did not exist before. This is the heartbeat of scientific research and discovery.
William also helped save the history of science. He helped create the Ernest Stevenson Collection of science books. He was also working on writing his own life story.
Awards and Honors
- 1953, Purple Heart Medal, U.S. Armed Forces
- 1956, George Washington Carver Fellowship, Tuskegee Institute
- 2000, Texas Hall of Fame; one of 16 first members
- 2010, Honorary associate degree, St. Philip's College
- 2020, Genius Award, Liberty Science Center
Groups He Belonged To
- American Chemical Society
- Health Physics Society
- Society of Nuclear Medicine
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
