George Malcolm Trout (March 7, 1896 – November 1, 1990) An American dairy industry pioneer, writer, researcher, and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in food science at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...

. Trout is credited with finding the key to the creation of homogenized milk.

Biography

He was born on March 7, 1896 in

Birmingham, Iowa Birmingham is a city in Van Buren County, Iowa, Van Buren County, Iowa, United States. The population was 367 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Birmingham was laid out in 1839. The town was incorporated on May 20, 1856. Geog ...

. He received his bachelor's degree in 1923 and master's degree in 1924 from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of th ...

(ISU). Trout received a doctorate degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1936. He was on the dairy husbandry staff of the

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. He joined

in 1928, and became a full professor in 1941, before he retired in 1966. He researched the

homogenization Homogeneity is a sameness of constituent structure. Homogeneity, homogeneous, or homogenization may also refer to: In mathematics *Transcendental law of homogeneity of Leibniz * Homogeneous space for a Lie group G, or more general transformatio ...

of milk. In the 1930s he was considered to be a dairy industry pioneer for his research on the chemical and physical properties of homogenized milk. The American Dairy Science Association gave him its highest award in 1964 and a further special award of appreciation in 1981 for 30 years of work as historian.

Death and legacy

He died on November 1, 1990 at the age of 94 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in

Lansing Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, maki ...

, Michigan. There has been a foundation established in his name to carry on his legacy and learning, and in 1992 the Food Science Building at Michigan State University was renamed the "G. Malcolm Trout Food Science and Human Nutrition Building". In addition, the Trout Council was formed in the 1980s to help continue Dr. Trout's development projects. Michigan Governor

Blanchard Blanchard is a French family name. It is also used as a given name. It derives from the Old French word ''blanchart'' which meant "whitish, bordering upon white". It is also an obsolete term for a white horse. Geographical distribution As of 2014, ...

honored him by designating March 7, 1986, as Mac Trout Day.

References

External links

Trout Scholarship page at MSU
American food scientists Iowa State University alumni Cornell University alumni Dairy educators West Virginia University faculty Michigan State University faculty 1896 births 1990 deaths People from Birmingham, Iowa {{US-scientist-stub