who discovered vitamins?

ehrumu

3 months ago

Polish biochemist Casimir Funk is credited with discovering vitamins, coining the term "vitamine" in 1912. He proposed that diseases like beriberi and scurvy were caused by dietary deficiencies and isolated an "active principle" (vitamin B1) from rice polishings, paving the way for modern nutrition science.
National Institutes of Health (.gov)
National Institutes of Health (.gov)
+2
Key Discoveries and Contributors:
1912 - Casimir Funk: Coined "vitamine" (later changed to vitamin).
1897 - Christiaan Eijkman: Discovered that polished rice caused beriberi, establishing the deficiency concept (later won a Nobel Prize).
Vitamin A and D: Discovered in 1913 by researchers including Elmer McCollum.
Vitamin C: Isolated and identified by Albert Szent-Györgyi.
National Institutes of Health (.gov)
National Institutes of Health (.gov)
+6
Note: While Funk identified the concept and the first vitamin, many scientists contributed to isolating individual vitamins throughout the early 20th century.