Casimir Funk

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Casimir Funk
Lister Institute

Funk Foundation for Medical Research

Casimir Funk (Polish:

diseases such as pellagra and rickets, and his analysis influenced a major shift in scientific thinking.[4] His scientific work involved research in Poland, France and the United Kingdom. In 1920, he became a citizen of the United States
where he continued his work.

Early life and education

He was born in

citizen of the U.S. in 1920.[3]

Funk came from a Jewish background. Retrospective reporting by a British news agency stated that, despite studying in various European countries in the context of increasing domestic antisemitism, he succeeded in his collegiate goals, without any specific obstacles hindering his efforts at those various institutions.[6]

Career

After reading an article by

niacin), although he thought it would be thiamine (vitamin B1) and described it as "anti-beri-beri-factor".[citation needed
]

In 1911, he published his first paper in English, on

beriberi ("antiberiberi"); one preventing scurvy ("antiscorbutic"); one preventing pellagra ("antipellagric"); and one preventing rickets ("antirachitic"). From there, Funk published a book, The Vitamines, in 1912, and later that year received a Beit Fellowship to continue his research.[7]

Funk proposed the hypothesis that other diseases, such as rickets, pellagra, coeliac disease, and scurvy could also be cured by vitamins.[8] Funk was an early investigator of the problem of pellagra. He suggested that a change in the method of milling corn was responsible for the outbreak of pellagra,[9] but no attention was paid to his article on this subject.[10]

The "e" at the end of "vitamine" was later removed, when it was realized that vitamins need not be nitrogen-containing amines. He postulated the existence of other essential nutrients, which became known as vitamins

peptic ulcers, and the biochemistry of cancer.[2]

From 1923 to 1927 Funk was the head of the National Institute of Hygiene in Poland.[11] In 1940, after returning to the United States, he became president of the Funk Foundation for Medical Research. He spent his last years studying the causes of neoplasms.[2]

Legacy

Funk's

personal character as a "research scientist [who] focused his intense curiosity on other fields" given his status.[3] A medical textbook distributed in 1997 by Taylor & Francis stated that Funk's 1912 release of his "landmark publication" in vitamins had internationally created a "theory [that] provided a new concept for interpreting diet-related events."[4]

Outside of vitamin-related research, Funk's

body of work, especially in terms of nutrition, "has helped the health of many people and led to the cures of several life-threatening diseases." A member of Funk's family, as well, has accepted a Nutrition Hall of Fame award given to the biochemist posthumously.[6]

Recognition

The

non-profit organization focused on advancing civil society, annually honors Polish-American scientists with the "Casimir Funk Natural Sciences Award". As of February 2024, the last winner of that award was Alexander Wlodawer. An associate of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wlodawer has become known in the U.S. as an expert on structural biology.[12] Past winners have included Nobel Laureate Roald Hoffmann, Aleksander Wolszczan, Hilary Koprowski, Peter T. Wolczanski, Wacław Szybalski, Zbyszek Darzynkiewicz and Benoit Mandelbrot
.

A

the company's actions.[6]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-83-223-1876-8
    .
  2. ^
    PMID 4560436
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e "Medicine: Death of the Vitamin Pioneer". Time. 1 December 1967. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  4. ^
    ISBN 0824793137
    .
  5. ^ a b "Inductee|Dr. Kazimierz "Casimir" Funk". Nutrition Hall of Fame. American Nutrition Association. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Neath, Amelia (23 February 2024). "Google Doodle celebrates Casimir Funk's 140th Birthday". The Independent. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  7. ^ Funk, Casimir (1914). Die Vitamine, ihre Bedeutung für die Physiologie und Pathologie: mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Avitaminosen: (Beriberi, Skorbut, Pellagra, Rachitis); Anhang: Die Wachstumsubstanz und das Krebsproblem. Wiesbaden: J. F. Bergmann. Retrieved 23 October 2018 – via Internet Archive.. See also Funk, Casimir (1922). The Vitamines. Translated by Dubin, Harry E. from the Second German Edition. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. Retrieved 26 October 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Funk, Casimir (1912). "The etiology of the deficiency diseases. Beri-beri, polyneuritis in birds, epidemic dropsy, scurvy, experimental scurvy in animals, infantile scurvy, ship beri-beri, pellagra". Journal of State Medicine. 20: 341–68.
  9. PMID 16993244
    .
  10. PMID 1285449
    .
  11. ISBN 9783318067347
    .
  12. ^ "Awards". Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. Retrieved 23 February 2024.

Further reading

External links

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