Eijkman, Christiaan, << EYEK mahn, KRIHS tee ahn >> (1858-1930), a Dutch physician and pathologist, discovered a vitamin that cures neuritis (inflammation of the nerves). In the late 1890’s, he showed that people who ate polished rice (rice with the husks and bran removed) developed a disease called beriberi. This disease can lead to damage to the nervous system. People who ate unpolished rice did not develop beriberi. Eijkman concluded that the husks and bran of the rice contained an “anti-beriberi” factor that was essential for health. Scientists later identified this factor as thiamine, also known as Vitamin B1. Eijkman’s work led to the concept of vitamins, chemicals in food that are essential to health. In 1929, Eijkman was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, sharing the award with British chemist Sir Frederick Hopkins, who worked on other aspects of vitamins.
Eijkman was born on Aug. 11, 1858, in Nijkerk, the Netherlands. In 1883, he graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a medical degree. After serving as a medical officer in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) for three years, he began researching bacteria in Berlin. In 1886, he traveled to Java where he carried out his investigations into beriberi, working first with birds and then with human beings. In 1896, Eijkman returned to the Netherlands, where he became professor of public health and forensic medicine at the University of Utrecht. He died on Nov. 5, 1930.
