A pioneer of modern food sanitation and food refrigeration.

Mary Pennington was born in Nashville, TN on Oct. 8^th, 1872 and raised in Philadelphia, PA where she would eventually attend University. Pennington was first introduced to chemistry at 12 yr old through her local library and visits to Penn. She eventually studied Chemistry at Penn but was denied her B.S. due to her gender. She later earned her Ph.D. from Penn in 1895. In 1898, Pennington started her own lab at Penn and began her career in bacteriology studying raw milk handling. In 1905, Pennington accepted a position at the U.S. FDA, and in 1907, Pennington became chief of the FDA Food Research Laboratory. Here, she would develop the standards for chicken processing and refrigerated boxcar design. For her work, she was awarded the Notable Service Medal in 1919 by President Hoover. In 1923, Pennington left the FDA and started and ran her own refrigeration consulting business until her death in 1952.