Casimir Funk: His discovery of the vitamins and their deficiency disorders

The history of the discovery of vitamins is the history of their deficiency disorders. Theirdiscoverer was Casimir Funk, who is considered the "father of vitaminic therapy." In hisexperimental research, Funk studied the interrelationships in the human body of those elementsthat Eijkman had demonstrated in animals, particularly birds. In his experimental research, Funkidentified the dietetic factors whose lack caused the "deficiency disorders," as he called humanberiberi, scurvy, rickets, and pellagra. In 1911, he designated these factors "vitamins" ("vita" =life and "amine," a nitrogenous substance essential for life); this name was accepted by thescientific community in 1912.