George J. Hucker (August 19, 1893 – May 18, 1988) was an American

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

who was involved in the founding of the Institute of Food Technologists and was involved in

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

Career at Cornell University

Hucker was a professor of bacteriology and chief of the

New York State Agricultural Experiment Station The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) at Geneva, Ontario County, New York State, is an agricultural experiment station operated by the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. In August 20 ...

in Geneva, New York during the early 20th century.

Involvement in the Institute of Food Technologists

Hucker attended an international conference held at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in 1937 that proved so successful that would lead to two more meeting preliminary meetings in 1938 and 1939. These two meetings at MIT would lead to another conference later in 1939 that would lead to the formation of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) with Hucker being elected as Secretary-Treasurer, a position he would serve until 1947, when he was elected IFT President. Hucker would serve as IFT President during 1947-48 while his previous position was given to Carl R. Fellers, head of the

food technology Food technology is a branch of food science that deals with the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of the food products. Early scientific research into food technology concentrated on food preservation. Nic ...

department at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

. Hucker would be named an IFT Fellow in 1976.

References

Paul Jones Chapman papers at Cornell University: 1940-83
- Accessed November 8, 2006.

- Accessed November 8, 2006.

- Accessed November 8, 2006. *Goldblith, S.A. (1993). ''Pioneers in Food Science, Volume 1: Samuel Cate Prescott - M.I.T. Dean and Pioneer Food Technologist.'' Trumball, CT: Food & Nutrition Press. p. 102.
List of IFT Fellows
1893 births 1988 deaths American food scientists American microbiologists Cornell University faculty Fellows of the Institute of Food Technologists {{US-biologist-stub