Contributions of Atwater and USDA to knowledge of nutrient requirements.
Dr. Atwater's work on food composition, food intake, human health and economic well-being played a pivotal role in the establishment of the agricultural experiment stations in the United States. Atwater actively promoted the concept of agricultural experiment stations based on his post-graduate studies in Germany. In 1875 he became the director of the first agricultural experiment station at Wesleyan University from which he completed his undergraduate studies. At Storrs, he built the first direct human calorimeter and served as the first director of an experiment station. There he established the pattern of nutrition research concerning food composition, food consumption, adequacy of fulfillment of food needs and energy requirements that has characterized the leadership of the Department of Agriculture in the field of human nutrition research.