Nancy Keller Wins Award Named for Charles Thom, MSA Charter Member and President

Belated congratulations to our colleague, Nancy Keller, Editor of Fungal Genetics and Biology and Robert L. Metzenberg and Kenneth B. Raper Professor of Mycology, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin – Madison. Nancy is the recipient of the 2020 Charles Thom Award, among the highest scientific awards given by the Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB, https://www.simbhq.org/). SIMB developed this Award, named for Charles Thom, to honor researchers for their exceptional merit in industrial microbiology and biotechnology, and their independent of thought and originality that added appreciably to scientific knowledge.

Charles Thom was a charter member of MSA (President, 1953, presidential address: Thom C. 1954. The Colony. Mycologia, 46:1-8) and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His protégé, Kenneth Raper (Cardy Raper’s brother-in-law), eulogized him as one of the nation’s “most colorful and most productive microbiologists” (Raper KB. 1965. Charles Thom 1872–1956. Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. 38:309–344).

Thom (1872-1956) was the first PhD at the University of Missouri in 1899 with Howard Ayers as his advisor (see Academic Family Tree https://academictree.org/physiology/peopleinfo.php?pid=767128). Ayers was a histologist in a medical department, who left Missouri soon after Thom’s degree was completed to become president of the University of Cincinnati (1899-1904). Thom later came under the influence of a number of prominent mycologists, including Roland A. Harper, G.F. Atkinson, Benjamin M. Duggar, and H.H. Whetzel. His taxonomic works on Penicillium and Aspergillus occasionally appear at MSA auctions. Thom was never employed for his taxonomic work, but as Raper wrote, “During his active career in the Department of Agriculture [Thom] identified thousands of cultures for other investigators all around the world, taking little cognizance of the credit that he might or might not receive. He was a selfless and devoted scientist and public servant” (Raper KB. 1965). The [amazing] Book of Cheese (Thom and Walter W. Fisk, 1918) more aligned with his actual job, is available from Project Gutenberg.

Thom is best known for his classic work on two processes based on fermentation: i) the development of the antibiotic penicillin; and ii) a method for production of citric acid from Aspergillus. The irony of this is that Thom was against another fermentation product. As a dedicated prohibitionist, he wrote, “I find no incongruity as a scientist in holding a rigid standard in the fight against alcoholic drink” (Raper 1965). There can be no doubt, however, that Thom’s long hours in the lab as a teetotaler greatly benefitted humanity.