Violet Geraldine Plimmer (née Sheffield; 2 May 1885 – 4 July 1949) was a British biologist and writer on nutrition.
[4] Her studies were interrupted by her marriage on 21 March 1912 to Robert Henry Aders Plimmer, a chemist and biochemist who was then reader in physiological chemistry at University College.
[7] R. H. A. Plimmer gave popular lectures on the then-novel subject of vitamins to students and societies at Aberdeen University.
[1] In her obituary in Nature, Katharine H. Coward considers that Violet Plimmer's works would have had a "very far-reaching effect" on health across Britain, both during the Second World War and in the post-war period.
[1][8][13] A contemporary review in the Medical Journal of Australia describes the book as "clearly expressed" and "interesting", as well as "sound" and "wisely planned", but criticises its limited treatment of mineral nutrients.
[8] A review for the British Medical Journal praises its clear treatment of diseases caused by nutrient deficiencies but criticises its oversimplified discussion of rickets, which at that date was not fully understood.
[18] According to Kefalas, Plimmer argues that it was a woman's social duty to provide healthy food for her family, an argument framed in terms of national productivity losses from illness, as well as the fact that poorly nourished men were unfit for military service.