Doris Gnauck White (24 December 1926 – 19 November 2001) was a science educator and a researcher of the biochemical and biophysical foundations of agriculture. She won fame for her skill in curing sick chickens.

Life

Gnauck was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. Her parents had immigrated from Germany. The father, Paul Benjamin Gnauck, was an aviation pioneer and the mother, Johanna born Syring was a teacher. Gnauck grew up on a farm in Granville and graduated from Shorewood High School. In 1944, Gnauck won a

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

scholarship. From her early years she cared for

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

s. In 1946 she published the cartoon ''Chick Doctor''. Working on the university's poultry experimental farm, she came in touch with questions of genetics, vitamine deficiencies and hormones. In 1947, she was the only girl who graduated with honors from the agricultural school of the University of Wisconsin. By her graduation, she was qualified to teach vocational agriculture, but she was not admitted to do so, supposedly because she was a woman. In the same year the family's house burned down and her parents became ill. Gnauck had to contribute to the family's living. She raised a garden and cared for baby chicks. Gnauck taught at a U.S. Army Military Prison and natural sciences at high schools in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. For the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

she investigated genetic resistance of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

. Gnauck wrote her first Ph.D. on

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

, but then she turned to

entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

. In 1954, Gnauck married Donald Lawrence White. She received her doctoral degree from the

in 1956. She and her husband moved to

Hunterdon County, New Jersey Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 128,947, making it the state's 18th-most populous county,William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

. She investigated

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

transmission by insects and worked for the American Environmental Laboratory. She was an active member of the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

. In 2001, she died in

Annandale, New Jersey Annandale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Clinton Township, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 1,695.

, aged 74.

Works

* Chick Doctor, cartoon, 1946
Self fecundation of Cucurbita maxima, 1949

A comparison of three techniques involving the use of visual education procedures in the development of entomological vocabulary in secondary school science. Dissertation University of Wisconsin 1956

Honors

Since 1985, she was a New Jersey Science Teachers Association Fellow, and in 2001 she got the citation scroll by this organization, which is awarded for outstanding contributions to science and/or science education. The New Jersey Science Teachers Association offers the ''Doris White Memorial Scholarship'' to students who are enrolled in a Teacher Education Program at a

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

institution of higher education.NJSTA Awards
njsta.org. Accessed March 6, 2024.

Life

Works

Honors

Notes

Further reading