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Wilbur Scoville

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Scientist

The Resume

    (January 22, 1865-March 10, 1942)
    Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut
    Pharmacist and research chemist for the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company
    Developed the Scoville Organoleptic Test for measuring the hotness of chili peppers (1912)
    Test involved dissolving a specific weight of dried pepper in oil to extract the flavor compounds, then diluting the extract in sugar water and giving it to a panel of five tasters
    The degree of dilution needed to make the spiciness undetectable to a majority of the tasters determined the Scoville rating of the pepper (i.e., dilution to one part in 1,000 would produce a Scoville rating of 1,000)
    Some common peppers and their typical ratings in Scoville Heat Units:
    Bell peppers: 0-25
    Banana peppers: 0-500
    Jalapenos: 3,500-8,000
    Cayenne peppers: 30,000-50,000
    Habanero chili peppers: 100,000-350,000

Why he might be annoying:

    He was less interested in the culinary uses of peppers than in using their active ingredient, capsaicin, in Heet liniment.
    In one sense, his research was a waste of time since Parke-Davis eventually changed the formula of Heet to use methyl salicylate as the primary active ingredient.
    Given the subjective nature of his testing method -- and complicating factors like sensory fatigue during testing – different labs testing the same pepper sample could come up with measurements that differed by as much as 50%.
    His original test has been replaced by the use of liquid chromatography to directly measure the concentration of capsaicin and other heat-producing chemicals.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was married to Cora Upham for 50 years.
    His textbook ‘The Art of Compounding’ remained a standard reference work into the 1960s.
    He published an early warning about prescribing drugs unnecessarily: ‘The notion that a medicine ‘can do no harm if does no good’ is in most cases erroneous, sometimes very decidedly so.’
    He received the Remington Honor Medal, the top award of the American Pharmaceutical Association, for ‘distinguished service on behalf of American pharmacy.’ (1929)
    Despite the change in testing techniques, his original scale remains in use.

Credit: C. Fishel


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Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 20 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 15 Votes: 33.33% Annoying