
author
1866–1932
A pioneering American physiologist and nutrition scientist, he helped turn the study of metabolism into a modern scientific field. His work on diabetes and human energy use made him an important voice in early twentieth-century medicine.

by Graham Lusk
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1866, Graham Lusk became one of the leading American researchers in physiology and nutrition. He studied at Columbia University and later earned a PhD at the University of Munich, where he trained under the influential physiologist Carl Voit.
Lusk was especially known for his work on metabolism, diabetes, and the way the body uses food for energy. He spent much of his career at Cornell University Medical College in New York and was widely respected for helping build nutrition science into a more precise, laboratory-based discipline.
He was also the author of The Science of Nutrition, a major work that introduced many readers to the emerging field. Despite becoming profoundly deaf in adulthood, he remained an active and admired scientific figure until his death in 1932.