Casimir Funk is today’s Google Doodle: What to know about the genius who created the term ‘vitamins’
You can thank Casimir Funk if you take a multivitamin daily or an occasional vitamin D supplement.
The Polish-American biologist, born Kazimierz Funk on February 23, 1884, popularized the idea of vitamins, which he dubbed “vital amines.”
Funk saw the need for vitamin supplements to avoid diseases like rickets, which is brought on by a deficiency of vitamin D, and scurvy, which is caused by a deficiency of vitamin C. This is similar to modern nutritionists and physicians.
According to the American Nutrition Association, which has inducted Funk into its “Nutrition Hall of Fame,” this led him to discover the presence of vitamins B1, B2, C, and D, which helped identify many of the nutrients that people need for optimum health.
.According to the American Nutrition Association, “he stated that they were necessary for normal health and the prevention of deficiency diseases.”
“In his subsequent work, Funk examined the hormones of animals and added to our understanding of pituitary and sex gland hormones, highlighting the significance of hormone and vitamin balance.”
Funk was a “driven and curious child,” according to his family.
As a Jewish student in Europe at a period when anti-Semitism was on the rise, “he pursued his education with passion despite facing obstacles,” the business continued.
At the age of twenty, he went on to get his doctorate at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He worked as a biochemist for many years, first at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and then at the University of Berlin, among other hospitals and establishments.
However, Funk’s family told Google that despite becoming well-known for his discoveries, he remained a family man who cherished spending time with his loved ones.
Funk died in Albany, New York, in 1967, but his contributions to science and medicine are still essential to day-to-day existence.
