Charles Olin Ball (1893–1970) was an American food scientist and inventor who was involved in the thermal death time studies in the food canning industry during the early 1920s. This research was used as standard by the United States Food and Drug Administration for calculating thermal processes in canning. He was also a charter member of the Institute of Food Technologists in 1939 and inducted among the first class of its fellows in 1970 for his work in academia and industry.
Ball was a charter member of Institute of Food Technologists when it was founded in 1939, and its president in 1963–64. He won the Nicholas Appert Award in 1947, and was among the first class of 27 fellows inducted in 1970. Ball was the first editor-in-chief of Food Technology from 1947 to 1950.
Ball died in 1970. Rutgers' food science department established an undergraduate scholarship in his honor for those students majoring in food science who excel in food engineering courses.
"C. Olin Ball." Food Engineering. September 2003. p. 66.
Downing, D.L. (1996). A Complete Course In Canning – Book II: Microbiology, Packaging, HACCP & Ingredients, 13th Edition. Timonium, MD: CTI Publications, Inc. pp. 62–3, 71–5, 93–6.
Merlmelstein, N.H. and F.R. Katz. "Advancing Food Science and Technology for Fifty Years." Food Technology. January 1997. pp. 8–11.
Powers, J.J. (2000). "The Food Industry Contribution: Preeminence in Science and in Application." A Century of Food Science. Institute of Food Technologists: Chicago. pp. 17–18.