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Arthur Wallace Anderson was born December 2, 1914 in Lisbon, North Dakota to Paul and Alma Anderson. His father, who immigrated from Norway in 1901, worked as a grain rancher, and prior to leaving for college in 1938, Arthur worked as a hired hand on his father’s farm. In 1938, Anderson matriculated at North Dakota State College. He graduated in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science degree and enlisted in the United States Navy’s Officer Training School. During World War II, Anderson served as the commanding officer aboard a submarine destroyer; towards the end of the war he was transferred to the Medical Service Corps and separated from service having achieved the rank of lieutenant. After the war, Anderson returned to the states and to his studies, attending the University of Wisconsin from 1946 to 1947 and graduating with a Master of Science degree. From 1947 to 1949, Anderson was employed by the University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; his research there focused on bacterial nutrition and vitamins.

In 1949, Anderson married Jean Mary Fuller and the couple settled in Corvallis, where Anderson attended Oregon State College (OSC). Anderson graduated in 1952, having earned a PhD in Bacteriology, with minors in Biochemistry and Dairy Husbandry, for his dissertation, Effect of Variation in Composition of Milk on Growth of Lactic Acid Starter-culture Bacteria. After completing his dissertation, Anderson worked as an Assistant Professor in the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) at University of California at Berkeley.

In 1953, Anderson applied for a position in what was then the Bacteriology Department at OSC; according to the reference letter written by then-Acting Chair P.R. Elliker, the nature of his work for the NRL was “considered secret.” Anderson was ultimately hired by OSC as an Assistant Professor in the Bacteriology Department, teaching Sanitary Bacteriology, Food Bacteriology, and General Bacteriology courses. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1959; two years later what was, by then, the Department of Bacteriology and Hygiene, became the Department of Microbiology and Hygiene. In 1964, Anderson was promoted to Full Professor.

Anderson's research primarily focused on pathogenic and toxigenic food microorganisms, and single cell protein and enzymes from agricultural and industrial waste. His research at OSU included the isolation of the first radiation-resistant microorganism, micrococcus radiodurans; for this research he received the Basic Research Award from Oregon State in 1959 and the Governor’s Northwest Scientist Award in 1962. In 1968, Anderson and members of his research team developed a “gel electrophoresis” unit to detect the presence of harmful toxins in food in as little as eight hours; previous methods could take anywhere from 36 hours to 1 week, depending on the toxin. Anderson’s method – which modified a Swedish technique known as the Laurel Method – was initially used to isolate clostridium botulinum, the bacilli which causes botulism. Not only was Anderson’s method faster, but had the added benefit of not requiring the use of animals as test subjects. In the 1970s, Anderson worked on the possibilities of protein production from grass seed and straw, as part of a project to find alternatives to open field burning in the Willamette Valley.

Anderson also did research and consulting work overseas. In 1963, he spent a year at the University of Cambridge’s Low Temperature Research Station in Cambridge, England, a lab engaged in investigating, among other things, the temperature conditions necessary to safely transport food stuffs, nationally and internationally. From 1971 to 1972, Anderson studied at the Meat Research Institute at the University of Bristol in Langford, England. While there, he researched methods to quickly detect harmful food microorganisms, and explored the use of microbial procedures for commercial production, including cellulose as a protein source and pyrolyzed oil as a source of carbon. In 1977, Anderson worked and taught at the University of Sao Paulo, in Campinas, Brazil, while simultaneously consulting at the Instituto de Tecnologia de Alimentos (Institute of Food Technology). That same year, Anderson and biological engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Michigan spent 11 days in Russia, visiting labs interested in the utilization of cellulose waste material. Though much of their visit was spent at the Microbiological Institute for Cellulose Research at Pushchino, Russia, Anderson also visited the Straw Research Center in Kolding, Denmark, and several labs in England to confer with scientists researching cellulose waste.

Thanks to Anderson’s research on uses for cellulose waste – namely straw and other agricultural waste products – Oregon opened its first “gasohol” production plant in 1980. Gasohol is a term used for the mixture of 10% ethyl alcohol (also called ethanol or grain alcohol) with gasoline; Anderson’s research was instrumental in illustrating that cellulose from hydrolyzed straw could be used to create the necessary ethanol. One hundred farmers invested $100 each to help fund the cooperative plant, which was situated in Medford.

Anderson retired from Oregon State University in the summer of 1980, after 27 years at OSU. He continued work as a freelance food industry consultant and researcher, however, consulting with several alcohol production plants in Oregon and commercial firms evaluating the potential of growing mushrooms in straw. Arthur Anderson died October 1, 2005 in Salem, Oregon.