Editing Henrik Dam

{{Short description|Danish biochemist and physiologist (1895–1976)}}
{{For|the Danish transport minister|Henrik Dam Kristensen}}
<!--{{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|onlysourced=yes|awards=[[Nobel Prize in Medicine]]}}-->
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image             = File:Henrik_Dam_nobel.jpg
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1895|02|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Copenhagen]], Denmark
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1976|04|17|1895|02|21|df=yes}}
| death_place       = Copenhagen, Denmark
| spouse            =
| partner           = 
| children          = 
| education         = [[Technical University of Denmark|Copenhagen Polytechnic Institute]]<br/>[[University of Graz]]
| awards            = [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (1943)
| child             = 
| fields            = Biochemistry and physiology
| known_for         = Discovery of vitamin K
| workplaces        = [[University of Copenhagen]]<br/>[[University of Rochester]]
| thesis_title      = {{lang|da|Nogle Undersøgelser over Sterinernes Biologiske Betydning}} ''(Some investigations on the biological significance of the sterols)''
| thesis_url        = 
| thesis_year       = 1934
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| academic_advisors = [[Fritz Pregl]]
| doctoral_students =  
}}
[[File:Henrik Dam with wife 1946.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Dam with his wife in Stockholm in 1946]]
'''Carl Peter Henrik Dam'''  (21 February 1895 – 17 April 1976) was a Danish [[biochemist]] and [[physiology|physiologist]].

He was awarded the [[Nobel Prize]] in [[Medicine]] in 1943 for joint work with [[Edward Doisy]] in discovering [[vitamin K]] and its role in [[human]] [[physiology]]. Dam's key experiment involved feeding a [[cholesterol]]-free diet to chickens.<ref name="Dam">{{cite journal | last = Dam | first = H. | name-list-style = vanc | year = 1935 | title = The Antihæmorrhagic Vitamin of the Chick.: Occurrence And Chemical Nature | journal = Nature | volume = 135 | issue = 3417 | pages = 652–653 | doi = 10.1038/135652b0 | bibcode = 1935Natur.135..652D | s2cid = 4104430 }}</ref> He initially replicated experiments reported by scientists at the [[Ontario Agricultural College]] (OAC).<ref name="Dam 2">{{cite journal | last = Dam | first = H. | name-list-style = vanc | year = 1943 | title = The discovery of vitamin K, its biological functions and therapeutical application |url =https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/dam-lecture.pdf| journal = Nobel Prize Laureate Lecture }}</ref> McFarlane, Graham and Richardson, working on the chick feed program at OAC, had used [[chloroform]] to remove all fat from chick chow. They noticed that chicks fed only fat-depleted chow developed hemorrhages and started bleeding from tag sites.<ref name="OAC">{{cite journal | last = McAlister | first = V.C. | name-list-style = vanc | year = 2006 | title = Control of coagulation: a gift of Canadian agriculture | url = http://www.csci-scrc.org/cim/cim_dec2006.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100306162601/http://www.csci-scrc.org/cim/cim_dec2006.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2010-03-06 | journal = Clin Invest Med | volume = 29 | issue = 6 | pages = 373–377 | pmid = 17330453 }}</ref> Dam found that these defects could not be restored by adding purified cholesterol to the diet. It appeared that—together with the cholesterol—a second compound had been extracted from the food, and this compound was called the coagulation vitamin. The new vitamin received the letter K because the initial discoveries were reported in a German journal, in which it was designated as ''Koagulationsvitamin''.

He received an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the ''Copenhagen Polytechnic Institute'' (now the [[Technical University of Denmark]]) in 1920, and was appointed as assistant instructor in chemistry at the School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. By 1923 he had attained the post of instructor in biochemistry at the [[University of Copenhagen]]'s Physiological Laboratory. He studied [[microchemistry]] at the [[University of Graz]] under [[Fritz Pregl]] in 1925, but returned to the University of Copenhagen, where he was appointed as an assistant professor at the Institute of Biochemistry in 1928, and assistant professor in 1929. During his time as professor at the University of Copenhagen he spent some time working abroad, and in 1934 submitted a thesis entitled ''Nogle Undersøgelser over Sterinernes Biologiske Betydning'' (Some investigations on the biological significance of the sterines) to the University of Copenhagen, and received the degree of PhD in biochemistry.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

Between 1942 and 1945 Dam was a senior research associate at the [[University of Rochester]]; it was during this period that he was awarded the 1943 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. In 1951, he was one of seven Nobel Laureates who attended the first [[Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings|Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/meeting-1951|title=1st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting - Laureates|website=www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org|access-date=2018-01-09}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[University of Rochester]]
* [[List of Nobel Laureates affiliated with the University of Rochester]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Henrik Carl Peter Dam}}
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture on 12 December 1946 ''The Discovery of Vitamin K, Its Biological Functions and Therapeutical Application''

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1926-1950}}
{{1943 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dam, Henrik}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:Danish biochemists]]
[[Category:Danish Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Danish physiologists]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:Scientists from Copenhagen]]
[[Category:University of Graz alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen]]
[[Category:Burials at East Bispebjerg Cemetery]]
[[Category:Vitamin researchers]]