Stephen m badcock biography of abraham

American agricultural chemist

"Stephen Babcock" redirects here. For the trial lawyer, see Stephen Babcock (lawyer).

Stephen Moulton Babcock (22 October – 2 July ) was an American agricultural chemist.

He is best known for developing the Babcock test, used to determine butterfat content in milk and cheese processing, and for the single-grain experiment that led to the development of nutritional science as a recognized discipline.

Early life and career

Babcock was born on a farm in Bridgewater, New York to Peleg and Cornelia Babcock.^[2] He earned a B.A. from Tufts College in and attended Cornell University from to , where he earned a master's degree before studying organic chemistry at the University of Göttingen, Germany, from which he received a Ph.D.

in ^[2] Upon his return to the United States in , Babcock took up the role of an agricultural chemist at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York,