George Albert Soper II (2 February 1870 – 17 June 1948) was an American sanitation engineer. He was best known for discovering

Mary Mallon Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), commonly known as Typhoid Mary, was an Irish-born American cook believed to have infected between 51 and 122 people with typhoid fever. The infections caused three confirmed deaths, ...

, also known as Typhoid Mary, an asymptomatic carrier of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

Biography

Soper was the son of George Albert Soper (1837 – 1869) and Georgianna Lydia Buckman (d. 1882). He received his degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1895 and a Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1899. He was described as 'Major, US Army', in the entry for 1907 in the

New York City Department of Health The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is the department of the government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcem ...

and was identified by ''Centennial Newspaper'' for the discovery of the carrier, Typhoid Mary. From 1923–to 1928 he was the managing director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, which later changed its name to the American Cancer Society. Mallon was tracked down by Soper and Dr.

Sara Josephine Baker Sara Josephine Baker (November 15, 1873 – February 22, 1945) was an American physician notable for making contributions to public health, especially in the immigrant communities of New York City. Her fight against the damage that widespread ur ...

, and was arrested by Ms. Willa Carey Noble, a bacteriologist at ''Research laboratories of the Public Health Department of New York City'' under William Hallock Park.

References

Notes

Dr. G. A. Soper dies; fought epidemics

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, June 18, 1948. p23. * :s:Author:George Albert Soper

Sources

External links

* 1870 births Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni 1948 deaths Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni {{US-engineer-stub