Jean Mayer
Jean Mayer (19 April 1920 – 1 January 1993) was a French-American scientist best known for his research on the physiological bases of hunger and the metabolism of essential nutrients, and for his role in shaping policy on world hunger at both the national and international levels. As a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, Mayer directed a laboratory that did groundbreaking work on the hypothalamic regulation of obesity and various metabolic disorders. In 1968-69, having worked as an adviser to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, he was appointed principal organizer and chair of the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health. At Harvard University, he served as Master of Dudley House before leaving in 1976 to become the tenth President of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where he is given credit for having brought about an unprecedented rise in the university's national reputation. He died unexpectedly on January 1, 1993. Early life and education Mayer was born in Paris in 1920 into a distinguished French scientific family. His father, André Mayer, was a celebrated physiologist at the College de France, his mother an outstanding doctoral student in André Mayer's laboratory when they met. Jean