The career of Robert R. Williams, one of the founders of modern nutrition, can be summarized in his three major accomplishments: chemically identifying and synthesizing thiamin, the first of the B vitamins; fostering the enrichment of bread and cereal grains in the United States and abroad; and providing the funds and the leadership for a program of grants to combat dietary diseases on an international scale.
Altruism has always been an underlying principle of Research Corporation. At its inception, Frederick Gardner Cottrell invented the electrostatic precipitator and used the proceeds from his patent to create the foundation. When Robert R. Williams and Robert Waterman synthesized thiamine, they decided to follow Cottrell’s lead, and donated the majority of their patent proceeds to Research Corporation to form the Williams-Waterman Fund for the Combat of Dietary Diseases.
In 1961, Research Corporation established the R.R. Williams Distinguished Professorship of Nutrition Sciences at Columbia University. At a dinner for 200 guests at the Plaza Hotel on May 6, 1961, Research Corporation President J. William Hinkley presented a check for $500,000 to Columbia University President Grayson Kirk to establish an endowment fund to perpetuate the professorship.
The Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences was established in the 1950s at Columbia University in the School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine (now the School of Public Health).