Casimir Funk

Casimir Funk (born Kazimierz Funk; August 5, 1884 – November 19, 1967) was a Polish biochemist who formulated the definitive concept of vitamins and was the first to isolate a vitamin (vitamin B1) from rice bran in 1911. He coined the term "vitamines" (vital amines) in his landmark 1912 medical writing, establishing a major shift in scientific thinking by proving that specific nutritional deficiencies cause diseases such as beriberi, pellagra, and rickets. While the English chemist Frederick Gowland Hopkins had earlier hypothesized the existence of "accessory food factors," it was Funk who provided the definitive functional theory and nomenclature. His scientific work involved research in interwar Poland, France, and the United Kingdom. In 1920, he became a citizen of the United States where he continued his work.