Science is Fun Fridays!

 

Today's Google Doodle celebrates the 140th birthday of Casimir Funk, a biochemist who was among the first to introduce the concept of vitamins.

He began work in organic chemistry at various research institutions across Europe.  He became more and more interested in the effects of food ingredients on certain illnesses such as scurvy, pellagra, and rickets.  He read that people who ate brown rice were less vulnerable to a condition called beri-beri.

In 1911, he began experimenting and was able to isolate the substance responsible.  He formed small, ingestible crystals that he called vitamines - vita (life) amine (chemical compound containing an amino group).  At the time, he thought he was working with thiamine (B1) but it was later known to be niacin (B3).

He continued his work discovering different vitamins and determining which foods they could be found in.  He published his findings, Die Vitamine, in 1914.

He worked as a consultant for the US Vitamin Corporation and, through his research, improved manufacturing methods for many commercial drugs and even helped develop several new products.