15 Facts About Theobald Smith

Theobald Smith FRS HFRSE was a pioneering epidemiologist, bacteriologist, pathologist and professor.

Theobald Smith described the bacterium Salmonella enterica, a species of Salmonella, named for the Bureau of Animal Industry chief Daniel E Salmon.

Theobald Smith taught at Columbian University and established the school's department of bacteriology, the first at a medical school in the United States.

Theobald Smith later worked at Harvard University and the Rockefeller Institute.

Theobald Smith was born in Albany, New York, the son of Philip Theobald Smith and his wife, Theresa Kexel.

Theobald Smith received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Cornell University in 1881, followed by an MD from Albany Medical College in 1883.

Theobald Smith became the Inspector of the newly created Bureau of Animal Industry in 1884.

Theobald Smith discovered the bacterial type species which would eventually form the genus Salmonella.

Theobald Smith turned his attention to Texas fever, a debilitating cattle disease; this work is detailed in a chapter in Microbe Hunters, by Paul de Kruif.

Theobald Smith taught at Columbian University in Washington, DC from 1886 to 1895, establishing the school's Department of Bacteriology.

In 1887, Theobald Smith began research on water sanitation in his spare time, investigating the level of fecal coliform contamination in the nearby Potomac River.

In 1895 Theobald Smith moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to accept a dual appointment serving as professor of comparative pathology at Harvard University as well as directing the pathology lab at the Massachusetts State Board of Health.

Theobald Smith joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research as Director of the Department of Animal Pathology in 1915 and remained there until his retirement in 1929.

Theobald Smith was a trustee of the Carnegie Institution from 1914 until his death in 1934.

Theobald Smith was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1896, the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1908, and the American Philosophical Society in 1915.