Editing Artturi Ilmari Virtanen

{{Short description|Finnish chemist and professor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
| image   =Virtanen.jpg
| caption = Virtanen in 1945
| birth_name = Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1895|1|15}}
| birth_place = [[Helsinki]], [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|11|11|1895|1|15}}
| death_place = Helsinki, Finland
| resting_place = [[Hietaniemi Cemetery]], Helsinki
| nationality = [[Finnish people|Finnish]]
| field = [[Chemistry]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Helsinki]]
| doctoral_advisor = 
| doctoral_students = 
| work_institution = {{Plainlist|
* [[Helsinki University of Technology]]
* [[University of Helsinki]]}}
| known_for = [[AIV fodder]]
| prizes = [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (1945)
| spouse = {{marriage|Lilja Moisio|1920|1972|end=d}}
| children = 2
}}

'''Artturi Ilmari Virtanen''' ({{IPA|fi|ˈɑrtːuri ˈilmɑri ˈʋirtɑnen|lang|Fi-Artturi_Ilmari_Virtanen.ogg}}; 15 January 1895 – 11 November 1973)<!--Per MOS, full dates in infobox need not be repeated in lede--> was a [[Finland|Finnish]] chemist and recipient of the 1945 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method".<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1945/ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1945."] Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 15 June 2017.</ref>

He invented AIV silage which improved milk production and a method of preserving butter, the AIV salt, which led to increased Finnish butter exports.<ref name="KB">{{cite web |url=http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/english/?id=4753 |title= Virtanen, Artturi Ilmari (1895–1973) |author=Ihamuotila, Risto |website= The National Biography of Finland |publisher=Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura |access-date= 31 January 2016 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen was born on 15 January 1895, in [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]] . He is the son of Kaarlo Virtanen, a railway engine driver and Serafina Isotalo.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=17 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

He completed his school education at the Classical Lyceum in [[Viipuri]], Finland. He married the [[botanist]] Lilja Moisio (1894-1972) in 1920 and had two sons with her.<ref name="NP"/>

In 1933, he bought a farm near Helsinki where he tested some of his scientific results in practice.<ref name="KB"/> He saw in the overproduction of food only a temporary phenomenon. He lived a simple life, he never had a car of his own, never smoked and never consumed alcohol. He died of pneumonia in November 1973, following a broken femur from a fall few weeks prior. He was buried at the [[Hietaniemi Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hietaniemen hautausmaa – merkittäviä vainajia|url=https://www.helsinginseurakunnat.fi/material/attachments/hautausmaat/hietaniemi/w8GZkM0y7/Hietaniemen_merkittavia_vainajia.pdf |publisher=Helsingin seurakuntayhtymä |access-date= 30 November 2017}}</ref>

==Academics==
Virtanen began his studies at the University of Helsinki in chemistry 1913 earning his Master and in 1918 his PhD in organic chemistry. In 1919 he started to work in the laboratories of [[Valio]], a large producer of [[dairy products]] and became director of the laboratory in 1920. Feeling not fully qualified and following his interest in [[botany]] and [[zoology]] led him to further scientific education and so he left [[Valio]] and studied at the [[ETH]], the [[University of Münster]] and the [[Stockholm University]] he studied [[physical chemistry]], [[soil chemistry]] and [[microbiology]]. In 1923 in Sweden he worked with [[Hans von Euler-Chelpin]], who was awarded with the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] in 1929. Back in Finland he became lecturer at the University of Helsinki in 1924, known for his lectures on chemistry of life. He worked in the laboratory of the Butter Export Association, which became a laboratory of the university. In 1930 the Institute for Biochemistry was founded and Virtanen stayed there until his death in 1973. He became professor of biochemistry at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]] in 1931 and at the [[University of Helsinki]] in 1939.<ref name="KB"/>

==Career==
His research started with work on the [[phosphorylation]] of [[hexose]]s in 1924. He was able to show that phosphorylation is the first step in many fermentation reactions, which was the foundation of the [[Embden–Meyerhof pathway]].

In 1925 his interests shifted to the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the root nodules of [[Fabaceae|leguminous]] plants. The improved methods of butter preservation, by adding [[disodium phosphate]] to prevent acidic hydrolysis. This method was in use for several decades in Finland. His research from 1925 till 1932 included the invention of a fodder preservation method ([[AIV fodder]]). The method, patented in 1932, was basically a kind of [[silage]] that improved the storage of green fodder, which is important during long winters. The process includes adding dilute hydrochloric or [[sulfuric acid]] to newly stored grain. Increased acidity stops harmful fermentation and has no adverse effect on the nutritive value of the fodder or the animals it is fed to. In 1945, Virtanen received the [[Nobel Prize]] in chemistry "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry".<ref name="NP">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1945/index.html |title= The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1945 |website= Nobelprize.org |publisher= Nobel Media AB |access-date= 24 November 2015 }}</ref>

His later years studies included the development of partially synthetic cattle feeds. The nitrogen for the synthesis of [[amino acid]]s normally comes from [[protein]]s in the fodder. A special bacterial environment in the [[rumen]] of cattle allows them to use [[urea]] and [[ammonium salt]]s as source for the nitrogen instead of plant proteins like [[soybean]] or [[meat and bone meal]]. He also headed the Valio Laboratory from 1921 to 1969.

==Awards and honours==
The prestige conferred by the Nobel Prize brought Virtanen invitations, honorary doctorates and membership in foreign academies of science.<ref name="KB"/> He was a member of the Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish, Bavarian, and Pontifical Academies of Science, and of the Swedish and Danish Academies of Engineering Sciences. He was an honorary member of learned societies in Finland, Sweden, Austria, Edinburgh, and the US, and received honorary degrees of the Universities of Lund, Paris, Giessen, and Helsinki, the Royal Technical College at Stockholm, and the Finland Institute of Technology.<ref name="NP"/>

The [[asteroid]] [[1449 Virtanen]], discovered by the renowned Finnish astronomer and physicist [[Yrjö Väisälä]], was named after him.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWrB1jPCa8AC&q=%281449%29 |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1449) Virtanen |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz D. |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |page=116 |date=2003 |isbn=978-3-540-29925-7 |access-date=1 November 2015}}</ref> The lunar crater [[Virtanen (crater)|Virtanen]] is also named after him.<ref>{{cite web|title=Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Virtanen on Moon|url=http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6406|website=planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov|publisher=NASA|access-date=14 October 2016}}</ref>

==Gallery==
{{gallery
|mode=packed
|height=150
|File:A-I-Virtanen-patentti.jpg|Part of the patent letter given to A. I. Virtanen and his employer for the AIV silage method in 1931
|File:Artturi-Ilmari-Virtanen-1934.jpg|Virtanen at his laboratory in 1934
|File:SuomenAkatemia1948.jpg|First members of [[Academy of Finland]] in April 1948, Virtanen to the left of glasses-wearing [[Onni Okkonen]]
|File:Artturi-Ilmari-Virtanen-1949.jpg|At his laboratory in 1949
|File:Atomienergianeuvottelukunta.jpg|The Finnish Council of Nuclear Power presenting its estimation of costs at the [[Ministry of Finance (Finland)|Department of Finance]] in 1958, Virtanen on the right
|File:A-I-Virtanen-1965.jpg|Photograph of a delegation (including {{ill|L. A. Puntila|fi}}) visiting professor A. I. Virtanen on his 70th birthday in 1965
|File:A-I-Virtanen-1980.jpg|Postage stamp from 1980
|title=}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{cite journal | title=Virtanen, Artturi Ilmari | author=Brock, W. H. | journal=Encyclopedia of Life Sciences | year=2001 | doi=10.1038/npg.els.0002936| isbn=0470016175 }}
*{{cite journal | title=Artturi Ilmari Virtanen | author=Miettinen, Jorma K. | journal=Plant and Soil | volume=43 | issue=1–3 | pages=229–234 | year=1975 | doi=10.1007/BF01928489| bibcode=1975PlSoi..43..229M | s2cid=11625579 }}
*{{cite journal | title=Artturi Ilmari Virtanen | author=R. A. Kyle | author2=M. A. Shampo | journal=Journal of the American Medical Association | volume=246 | issue= 2| pages=150 | year=1981 | doi=10.1001/jama.246.2.150 | pmid=7017179}}
*{{cite journal | title=In memoriam Artturi I. Virtanen 1895–1973 | author=Kreula, Matti | journal=Zeitschrift für Ernährungswissenschaft | volume=13 | issue=1–2 | pages=1–5 | year=1974 | doi=10.1007/BF02025018| pmid=4615448 | s2cid=37234331 }}

{{Commons category|Artturi Ilmari Virtanen}}

== External links ==
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture on 12 December 1945 ''The Biological Fixation of Nitrogen and the Preservation of Fodder in Agriculture, and Their Importance to Human Nutrition''
{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1926–1950}}
{{1945 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtanen, Artturi Ilmari}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Helsinki]]
[[Category:People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)]]
[[Category:Finnish chemists]]
[[Category:Finnish inventors]]
[[Category:Finnish Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]]
[[Category:Agriculture educators]]
[[Category:Food scientists]]
[[Category:University of Helsinki alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Helsinki]]
[[Category:Finnish biochemists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]