Background
Harvey Wiley was born on October 18, 1844 in Kent, Indiana, the son of Preston Prichard Wiley, a farmer, and Lucinda Maxwell.
Harvey Wiley was born on October 18, 1844 in Kent, Indiana, the son of Preston Prichard Wiley, a farmer, and Lucinda Maxwell.
Wiley received his early education primarily from his father. A bright student at his local school, he enrolled in nearby Hanover College in 1863 and studied for about one year until patriotism inspired him to enlist with the Union Army in 1864 as a corporal in Company I of the 137th Regiment Indiana Volunteers during the American Civil War. He returned to Hanover in 1865 where he majored in the humanities and was a top graduate (Bachelor of Arts) in 1867. He received a Master of Arts degree there in 1870.
Wiley studied at Indiana Medical College where he received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1871.
From 1868 to 1871 Wiley was an instructor in Latin and Greek at Butler University (while continuing his studies at Indiana Medical College). Then he became a professor of chemistry at Butler, and then at Purdue University. In 1878 Wiley made a surprising discovery while examining what he thought was pure honey. He learned that some honey sold to consumers was mostly made of glucose. Having served as Indiana's state chemist, he became chief chemist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1883. He did a series of studies of food products and published several papers which established him among agricultural chemists.
Wiley also supervised the preparation of his landmark Bulletin No. 13: Foods and Food Adulterants (1887-1889), which covered all classes of food products and described methods of analysis. However, his dynamic personal qualities, expressed on the public platform and, informally, in such a private publication as Songs of Agricultural Chemists (1892) carried the subject beyond the arguments of technicians.
In 1902 Wiley established his famous "poison squad," a group of volunteers who became "human guinea pigs" to help determine the effect on digestion and health of preservatives, coloring matter, and other substances. His work was the base from which a variety of exposés and sensations, including patent medicines and processed beef, roused the nation, resulting in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
In 1911 he launched a lawsuit against soda maker Coca-Cola; correctly believing that caffeine could be "habit-forming, " Wiley wanted the company to properly identify the contents of their beverage, warning consumers that it contained caffeine. Though he lost his case, Wiley helped pave the way for better label and marketing practices.
Controversy over administration of the act and its specific effect on industries continued through the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Wiley, persuaded that the act had been betrayed, resigned his government post in 1912. He then became director of the bureau of foods for Good Housekeeping, published books on health and adulteration, and lectured widely and effectively. In 1929 his retrospective History of a Crime against the Food Law provided inspiration for later crusaders. Active to the end, he died on June 30, 1930, in Washington, D. C.
The chemist Harvey Washington Wiley established the methods and philosophy of food analysis. His writings and influence made him the "father of the Food and Drug Administration."
The U.S. Post Office issued a 3 cent postage stamp in Wiley's honor on June 27, 1956, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the 1906 Act.
The Harvey W. Wiley Award is AOAC International's most prestigious scientific award established in 1956 and presented annually since 1957.
Wiley has several buildings named in his honor. Wiley was honored by Hanover College with a "Wiley Residence Hall" inaugurated in 1956. He was also honored by Purdue University in 1958 when the "Harvey W. Wiley Residence Hall" was opened northwest of the main academic campus. The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) operations are located in the Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building in College Park, MD, constructed in 2001, and named after Wiley in 2002.
The French government named him a Chevalier of the Order of the Légion d'honneur in 1909.
The home he built at Somerset, Maryland in 1893, the Wiley-Ringland House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Harvey W. Wiley was a man of excellent presence, magnetic and witty.
In 1911 Harvey Washington Wiley married Anna Campbell Kelton. The couple had two sons.
