In honor of the 118th birthday of Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi, the man who discovered vitamin C, Google has posted a doodle today displaying two oranges and other fruit-based sources of the nutrient. When users click on the doodle, information about the Nobel Prize-winning pharmacologist is loaded.
Szent-Gyorgyi was born in 1893 in Budapest and began studying at Semmelweis University in 1911. He was then called to serve as a medic in World War I, but soon had a desire to return to science. He then shot himself so that he would be allowed to return to his studies. The physiologist started researching anatomy, and then turned to physiology bacteriology, molecules and chemistry. He later studied electrons and quantum mechanics.
While working toward his PhD at Cambridge University, Svent-Gvorgyi worked to isolate what he called hexuronic acid from adrenal gland tissue. He later discovered with research fellow Joseph Svirbely at the University of Szeged that the acid was an unidentified antiscorbutic factor, now known as Vitamin C.
Svent-Gvorgyi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or medicine in 1937 for “his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid.” After winning the prize, he turned to working on muscle research, and discovered the poteins actin and myosin and their complex.
Written b: Karen Benardello
