Betty Julia Sullivan (31 May 1902 — 25 December 1999) was an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

between the 1920s and 1940s at Russell Miller Milling Company. In 1947, Sullivan began her executive career as research director and vice-president for Russell Miller until the company became part of Peavey Company in 1958. After the merger, Sullivan remained in her executive roles before leaving in 1967 to co-start an agribusiness consulting company. While working at Experience Inc., Sullivan became director of the company in 1975 and retired in 1992. During her career, Sullivan was the first woman to receive the Osbourne Medal from the

American Association of Cereal Chemists Cereals & Grains Association (formerly AACC International, formerly the American Association of Cereal Chemists) is a non-profit professional organization of members who are specialists in the use of cereal grains in foods. Founded in 1916, they ...

, in 1948. In 1954, Sullivan was awarded the

Garvan–Olin Medal The Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal, previously called the Francis P. Garvan Medal, is an annual award that recognizes distinguished scientific accomplishment, leadership and service to chemistry by :Women chemists, women chemists. The Awar ...

from the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Early life and education

On May 31, 1902, Sullivan was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Sullivan attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

for her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in 1922. She is of Irish ancestry. In the mid-1920s, Sullivan left the United States and completed a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

in 1925. The following year, she conducted research at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

in 1926. In 1935, Sullivan returned to the University of Minnesota for a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

and a

minor degree An academic minor is an secondary area of study of an undergraduate college or university student, in addition to their "major". The institution lays out a framework of required classes or class types a student must complete to earn the minor ...

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

. Sullivan wrote her Bachelor of Science thesis on the chemical reactions in

pinene Pinene is a collection of unsaturated bicyclic monoterpenes. Two geometric isomers of pinene are found in nature, α-pinene and β-pinene. Both are chiral. As the name suggests, pinenes are found in pines. Specifically, pinene is the major comp ...

and her PhD thesis about the

lipids Lipids are a broad group of organic compounds which include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins Vitamin A, A, Vitamin D, D, Vitamin E, E and Vitamin K, K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The fu ...

found in wheat.

Career

In 1922, Sullivan started her chemistry career as a lab assistant for the Russell Miller Milling Company in 1922. While at Russell Miller, Sullivan was promoted to head chemist in 1927 and research director in 1947. While researching the

food chemistry Food chemistry is the study of chemical processes and interactions of all biological and non-biological components of foods. The biological substances include such items as meat, poultry, lettuce, beer, milk as examples. It is similar to biochemi ...

of wheat and flour, Sullivan simultaneously held the position of vice-president. After Russell Miller became a part of Peavey Company in 1958, Sullivan continued her research and executive positions with Peavey while worked in

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the mak ...

to create new products. When Sullivan left Peavey in 1967, she co-created an

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

consulting company called Experience Inc. During her time with Experience Inc. Sullivan held various positions including president in 1969 and director in 1975 before her 1992 retirement.

Awards and honors

In 1948, Sullivan became the first woman to be awarded the Osbourne Medal by the

. Sullivan was also awarded the

in 1954 by the

Death

On 25 December 1999, Sullivan died in

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/Inter ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Betty 1902 births 1999 deaths Recipients of the Garvan–Olin Medal American women chemists Food chemists 20th-century American women 20th-century American chemists University of Paris alumni Chemists from Minnesota