Editing Casimir Funk

{{Short description|Polish-American biochemist (1884–1967)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Casimir Funk
| image             = Casimir Funk 01.jpg
| birth_name        = Kazimierz Funk<ref>{{Cite book |last=Iłowiecki |first=Maciej |title=Dzieje nauki polskiej ''(History of Polish Science)'' |publisher=Wydawnictwo Interpress |year=1981 |isbn=978-83-223-1876-8 |location=Warszawa |page=177}}</ref>
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1884|2|23|mf=y}}<ref name="Griminger" />
| birth_place       = [[Warsaw]], Poland
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1967|11|19|1884|2|23|mf=y}}<ref name="Griminger" />
| death_place       = [[Albany, New York]], U.S.<ref name="Pioneer">{{cite magazine|date=1 December 1967|title=Medicine: Death of the Vitamin Pioneer|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,712020,00.html|accessdate=23 February 2024|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref>
| citizenship       = Poland, United States
| field             = [[Biochemist]] and [[medical researcher]]
| work_institution  = [[Pasteur Institute]]<br />[[Lister Institute]]<br />Funk Foundation for Medical Research
| alma_mater        = [[University of Bern]]
| known_for         = Nutritional research, formulation of the concept of [[vitamins]]
}}

'''Casimir Funk''' ({{langx|pl|'''Kazimierz Funk'''|i=no}} {{IPA|pl|kaˈʑimjɛʂ ˈfuŋk|}}; February 23, 1884 – November 19, 1967) was a Polish [[biochemist]] generally credited with being among the first to formulate the concept of [[vitamins]] after publishing a landmark [[Medicine|medical writing]] in 1912. He highlighted these "vital [[amine]]s" (or "vitamines") as critical in fighting significant [[disease]]s such as [[pellagra]] and [[rickets]], and his analysis influenced a major shift in scientific thinking.<ref name="Vitamin">{{cite book|pages=16–17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nODCOzu2n8C|title=Vitamin C in Health and Disease|isbn=0824793137|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|date=May 5, 1997}}</ref> His scientific work involved research in Poland, France and the United Kingdom. In 1920, he became a citizen of the [[United States]] where he continued his work.

==Early life and education==
He was born in [[Warsaw]] (the capital of Poland), being the son of a medical specialist in [[dermatology]].<ref name="Pioneer"/> In 1904, at the age of twenty, he earned a doctorate in chemistry at the [[University of Bern]].<ref name="Griminger">{{Cite journal |last=Griminger |first=Paul |date=September 1972 |title=Casimir Funk--a biographical sketch (1884-1967) |journal=J Nutr |volume=102 |issue=9 |pages=1105–13 |doi=10.1093/jn/102.9.1105 |pmid=4560436}}</ref> In his early career, he worked as a biochemist at the [[Pasteur Institute]], the [[Horst-Schmidt-Kliniken|Wiesbaden Municipal Hospital]], the [[University of Berlin]], and the [[Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine|Lister Institute]].<ref name="NutritionHallofFame">{{Cite web |title=Inductee{{!}}Dr. Kazimierz "Casimir" Funk |url=https://theana.org/NutritionHallofFame |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Nutrition Hall of Fame |publisher=American Nutrition Association}}</ref> Funk emigrated to [[New York State]] in 1915, moving back and forth between the United States and Europe until [[World War II]].<ref name="NutritionHallofFame"/> After working in that country for several years, he became a [[Citizenship of the United States|citizen of the U.S.]] in 1920.<ref name="Pioneer"/>

Funk came from a [[Jews|Jewish background]]. Retrospective reporting by a [[Mass media in the United Kingdom|British news agency]] stated that, despite studying in various [[Europe|European countries]] in the context of increasing domestic [[antisemitism]], he succeeded in his [[College|collegiate goals]], without any specific obstacles hindering his efforts at those various institutions.<ref name="Google">{{Cite news |last=Neath |first=Amelia |date=23 February 2024 |title=Google Doodle celebrates Casimir Funk's 140th Birthday |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/google-doodle-casimir-funk-birthday-b2501319.html |accessdate=23 February 2024 |journal=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Dr. Casimir Funk at work in his new research laboratory on W. 64th Street in New York City.jpg|thumb|Dr. Casimir Funk at his research laboratory in New York City in 1953]]
After reading an article by [[Christiaan Eijkman]] that indicated that persons who ate [[brown rice]] were less vulnerable to [[Beriberi|beri-beri]] than those who ate only the fully milled product, Funk tried to isolate the substance responsible, and he succeeded. Because that substance contained an [[amine]] group, he called it "vitamine". It was later to be known as vitamin B<sub>3</sub> ([[Niacin (nutrient)|niacin]]), although he thought it would be [[thiamine]] (vitamin B<sub>1</sub>) and described it as "anti-beri-beri-factor".{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 1911, he published his first paper in English, on [[dihydroxyphenylalanine]]. Funk was sure more than one substance like Vitamin B<sub>1</sub> existed, and in his 1912 article for the ''Journal of State Medicine'', he proposed the existence of at least four vitamins: one preventing [[beriberi]] ("antiberiberi"); one preventing [[scurvy]] ("antiscorbutic"); one preventing [[pellagra]] ("antipellagric"); and one preventing [[rickets]] ("antirachitic"). From there, Funk published a book, ''The Vitamines'', in 1912, and later that year received a Beit Fellowship to continue his research.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Funk |first=Casimir |url=https://archive.org/details/dievitamineihreb00funk/page/n7 |title=Die Vitamine, ihre Bedeutung für die Physiologie und Pathologie: mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Avitaminosen: (Beriberi, Skorbut, Pellagra, Rachitis); Anhang: Die Wachstumsubstanz und das Krebsproblem |publisher=J. F. Bergmann |year=1914 |location=Wiesbaden |access-date=23 October 2018 |via=Internet Archive}}. See also {{cite book |last=Funk  |first= Casimir |title= The Vitamines |place=Baltimore |publisher=  Williams & Wilkins |translator= Dubin, Harry E. from the Second German Edition |year= 1922  |url=https://archive.org/details/vitamines00funk/page/n3 |access-date= 26 October 2018 |via= Internet Archive }}</ref>

Funk proposed the hypothesis that other diseases, such as [[rickets]], [[pellagra]], [[coeliac disease]], and [[scurvy]] could also be cured by vitamins.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Funk |first=Casimir |year=1912 |title=The etiology of the deficiency diseases. Beri-beri, polyneuritis in birds, epidemic dropsy, scurvy, experimental scurvy in animals, infantile scurvy, ship beri-beri, pellagra |journal=Journal of State Medicine |volume=20 |pages=341–68}}</ref> Funk was an early investigator of the problem of pellagra. He suggested that a change in the method of milling corn was responsible for the outbreak of pellagra,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Funk |first=C |year=1913 |title=Studies on pellagra. The influence of the milling of maize on the chemical composition and nutritive value of the meal |journal=J Physiol |volume=47 |issue=4–5 |pages=389–392 |doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1913.sp001631 |pmc=1420484 |pmid=16993244}}</ref> but no attention was paid to his article on this subject.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alfred |first=JAY Bollet |year=1992 |title=Politics and Pellagra: The Epidemic of Pellagra in the U.S. in the Early Twentieth Century |url=http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc2589605/pdf/yjbm00051-0058.pdf |journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=211–221 |pmc=2589605 |pmid=1285449}}</ref>

The "e" at the end of "vitamine" was later removed, when it was realized that vitamins need not be nitrogen-containing amines. He postulated the existence of other essential nutrients, which became known as vitamins [[Thiamine|B<sub>1</sub>]], [[Riboflavin|B<sub>2</sub>]], [[Vitamin C|C]], and [[Vitamin D|D]]. In 1936, he determined the molecular structure of thiamine, though he was not the first to isolate it. Funk also conducted research into [[hormone]]s, [[diabetes]], [[peptic ulcer]]s, and the biochemistry of [[cancer]].<ref name="Griminger" />

From 1923 to 1927 Funk was the head of the [[National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene|National Institute of Hygiene]] in Poland.<ref name="Porta">{{cite book |first1=M.  |last1=Porta |first2=Viktor |last2=Jörgens |date=2020 |title=Unveiling Diabetes - Historical Milestones in Diabetology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oRb8DwAAQBAJ |location=Basel |publisher=S. Karger AG |page= |isbn=9783318067347}}</ref> In 1940, after returning to the United States, he became president of the Funk Foundation for Medical Research. He spent his last years studying the causes of [[neoplasm]]s.<ref name="Griminger" />

==Legacy==
Funk's [[Academy|academic]] career is noted to have included serving at the [[Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine]] within [[London]], England and the [[Pasteur Institute]] within [[Paris]], France while he additionally worked with [[Commerce|commercial]] firms such as the U.S. Vitamin & Pharmaceutical Corp. Upon his death, the American publication ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' highlighted both Funk and [[Elmer Verner McCollum]], the latter being known for his discovery of [[Vitamin A]] and other efforts, as having significant legacies "in everyday importance" for medicine, with the [[news organization]] lauding Funk as a "pioneer". ''Time'' additionally commented positively upon Funk's [[personal character]] as a "research scientist [who] focused his intense curiosity on other fields" given his status.<ref name="Pioneer"/> A medical textbook distributed in 1997 by [[Taylor & Francis]] stated that Funk's 1912 release of his "landmark publication" in vitamins had internationally created a "theory [that] provided a new concept for interpreting diet-related events."<ref name="Vitamin"/>

Outside of vitamin-related research, Funk's [[career history]] has been described as also having significantly extended humanity's "knowledge of sex hormones."<ref name="Pioneer"/> A retrospective analysis by the British publication ''[[The Independent]]'' in 2024 stated that Funk's discoveries as an overall [[body of work]], especially in terms of nutrition, "has helped the health of many people and led to the cures of several life-threatening diseases." A member of Funk's family, as well, has accepted a Nutrition Hall of Fame award given to the biochemist posthumously.<ref name="Google"/>

== Recognition ==
The [[Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America]] (PIASA), a [[non-profit organization]] focused on advancing [[civil society]], annually honors Polish-American scientists with the "Casimir Funk Natural Sciences Award". As of February 2024, the last winner of that award was Alexander Wlodawer. An associate of the [[National Institutes of Health]] (NIH), Wlodawer has become known in the U.S. as an expert on [[structural biology]].<ref name="piasa">{{cite web|title=Awards|url=https://piasa.org/awards/|website=Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America|date=May 2022 |accessdate=23 February 2024}}</ref> Past winners have included Nobel Laureate [[Roald Hoffmann]], [[Aleksander Wolszczan]], [[Hilary Koprowski]], [[Peter T. Wolczanski]], [[Wacław Szybalski]], [[Zbyszek Darzynkiewicz]] and [[Benoit Mandelbrot]].

A [[Google Doodle]] commemorated Funk's 140th birthday on [[February 23rd]] of 2024 in tandem with his family's estate and its various efforts. This included working with Erik Funk, Casimir Funk's grandson, who praised [[Google|the company's]] actions.<ref name="Google" />

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Biology|Chemistry|History|Judaism|Medicine}}
*[[Christiaan Eijkman]]
*[[History of the treatment of pellagra]]
*[[History of the treatment of rickets]]
*[[List of Polish biologists and other medical researchers]]
*[[List of Polish Jews]]
*[[Notable individuals associated with the University of Bern]]
*[[Notable individuals and organizations depicted in a Google Doodle]]
*[[Timeline of Polish science and technology]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book |last=Harow |first=Benjamin |title=Casimir Funk: Pioneer in Vitamins and Hormones |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |year=1955 |location=New York |pages=209}}
*{{Cite journal |last1=Piro |first1=Anna |last2=Tagarelli, Giuseppe |last3=Lagonia, Paolo |last4=Tagarelli, Antonio |last5=Quattrone, Aldo |date=1 January 2010 |title=Casimir Funk: His Discovery of the Vitamins and Their Deficiency Disorders |journal=Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=85–88 |doi=10.1159/000319165 |pmid=20805686 |s2cid=9619130}} 
*{{Cite book |last=Funk |first=Casimir |title=Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=2008 |volume=5 |location=Detroit |pages=208–9}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060502084313/http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Biographies/MainBiographies/F/Funk/1.html Biography]
*[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1531939&blobtype=pdf Review of Harow's biography at pubmedcentral], PDF
*[http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Biographies/Funk-Casimir.html Biography at FAQs, nutrition] accessed Dec 2006.
* {{Internet Archive author |sname= |sopt=w}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Funk, Casimir}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American biochemists]]
[[Category:Polish biologists]]
[[Category:Polish chemists]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish chemists]]
[[Category:Jewish biologists]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]
[[Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Scientists from Warsaw]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:University of Bern alumni]]
[[Category:Vitamin researchers]]