Gladys Anderson Emerson was an eminent biochemist who conducted valuable research on vitamin E, amino acids, and the B vitamin complexes. She later studied the biochemical bases of nutrition and the relation between disease and nutrition. Am author and lecturer, Emerson helped establish dietary allowance for the United States Department of Agriculture.

Emerson was born in Caldwell, Kansas, on July 1, 1903, the only child of Otis and Louise (Williams) Anderson. When the family moved to Texas, Emerson attended elementary school in Fort Worth. She later graduated from high school at El Reno, Oklahoma, where she excelled in debate, music, languages, and mathematics. In 1925, she received a B.S. degree in chemistry and an A.B. in English from the Oklahoma College for Women.

Following graduation, Emerson was offered assistantships in both chemistry and history at Stanford University, and earned an M.A. degree in history in 1926. She eventually became...