Robert McCance

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Robert McCance (1898-1993) was Professor of Experimental Medicine, Cambridge University.

Born in Ulster, he was educated at St. Bees School, before wartime service in the Royal Naval Air Service, piloting an observation aircraft from a warship. After the war he began a scientific career.

With colleague H. Shipp, he published The Chemistry of Flesh Foods and their Losses on Cooking in 1933. He co-authored the long-standard text and reference book, The Chemical Composition of Foods in 1940 with Elsie Widdowson, his science co-worker. Their work became known as the basis for modern Western nutritional thinking, with editions in print from 1940 to 2002. McCance and Widdowson played a leading part in wartime rationing and 1940s government nutrition efforts.

In 1993 the British Nutrition Foundation issued McCance & Widdowson – A Scientific Partnership of 60 years ( McCance and Widdowson: A Scientific Partnership of 60 Years, 1933-93 - A Commemorative Volume Prepared as a Tribute to the 60-year Scientific Partnership Between Robert Alexander McCance CBE, FRS and Elsie May Widdowson CBE, FRS Margaret Ashwell (Editor) ISBN: 0907667074 )