Arthur W. S. Thomas was born on February 18, 1891 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After graduating from high school in 1909 as valedictorian of his class, he entered Columbia University, where he received a degree in chemistry in 1912. He remained at Columbia as an instructor of Food Chemistry until the outbreak of the First World War. Serving in the U.S. Army Sanitation Corps during the war, he was assigned to survey the food and nutritional standards in army camps in the northeastern United States and in France with the 26th and 89th Divisions. After the war Thomas returned to Columbia and his work in colloidal and food chemistry, becoming a full professor in 1928 and Professor Emeritus in 1959. From 1942 to 1951 he also served as Executive Officer of the university.
