Skip to main content

Discovery of Vitamin C

Date: 1936
Category:
Creator(s): Szent-Györgyi, Dr. Albert

Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893-1986), biochemist, pioneered the study of biological oxidation mechanisms during the 1920s. Between 1930 and 1936, while a Professor at Szeged University, he proved that hexuronic acid, which he had previously isolated, is identical with vitamin C and that it could be extracted in kilogram quantities from paprika. In 1937, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumari.” In later years he and his collaborators achieved world renown in the field of the biochemical mechanism of muscular contraction. From 1948 until his death, he worked in the United States where he was also involved in cancer research.

Era: 1930s
Innovation designated by:
Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi
Von FOTO:FORTEPAN / Semmelweis Egyetem Levéltára, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50839515
Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi circa 1948.
Address:
University of Szeged Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical Faculty
Hungary

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.