Dwight Joyce Ingle (September 4, 1907 – July 28, 1978) was an American physiologist and endocrinologist who was the chairman of the physiology department at the University of Chicago. His obituary in the National Academy of Sciences' Biographical Memoirs described him as "a first-rank, pioneering scientist in a new and uncharted field [i.e. endocrinology]."[1]
Ingle is known for his development of a bioassay for adrenocortical hormones in rats that was used to purify cortisone.[2] He conducted much of the research that led to the development of this assay while working at the company Upjohn. He later resigned from Upjohn after the company's owner insisted on marketing a compound that showed no activity when tested with Ingle's own assay.[3] He also conducted pioneering research on the ergogenic effects of exposure to glucocorticoids.[4]
He was also known for his controversial views on race and intelligence, arguing in 1961 that "there are reasons for thinking that racial differences in intelligence may be real",[5] and for his criticisms of desegregation efforts, arguing that "the random mixing of races in schools and housing...[was] neither scientifically sound nor morally right."[6]
When weighing in on the 'population problem' and the debate on federally funded sterilization of welfare beneficiaries, he is quoted as saying, "millions of people are unqualified for parenthood and should remain childless."[7] As such, he was a well-known eugenicist.[8]
