John Kudrysch History of Chemistry
Help Received: Leicester Book
1804 – Nicolas Theodore de Saussure (1767-1845) – discovered the carbon in dry matter of plants comes from carbon dioxide entirely, as well as proved that the rest of the dry matter came from water with the exception of minerals in the soil.
1816 – Francois Magendie (1783-1855) – Fed dogs distilled water and one specific food (experiment) – proved that nitrogenous foods were needed for life. Side discovery of xerophthalmia due to lack of vitamin A intake.
1817 – J. Pelletier (1788-1842) and J.B. Caventou (1795-1877) – Isolated chlorophyll
1824 – William Prout (1785-1850) – Acid of gastric juice was proven to be muriatic acid, not widely accepted by science world at first
1827 – William Prout (1785-1850) – Identified three categories of “foodstuffs” that had to be included in diet (1) – Saccharine, oily, and albuminous. The nature of fats essentially were the study behind this identification.
1835 – Theodor Schwann (1810-1882) – found that gastric juices contained pepsin, a catalyst effective in helping the breaking down of food
1842 – Liebig (1803-1873) – Published Die Thierchemie, where theories were applied to animal and human physiology proving chemistry can be applied to physiological problems.
1845 – Louis Mialhe (1807-1886) – Discovered ptyalin in saliva as an enzyme designed to help breakdown food
1845 – J.R. Mayer (1814-1878) – Pointed out the significance of the stored sunlight plants take in during photosynthesis for the human experience
1846 – Claude Bernard (1813-1878) – Studied pancreatic juice, and found it can break down starch, fats, and proteins
184? – J.B. Lawes (1843-1910) and J.H. Gilbert (1817-1901) – nitrogen compounds are important to fertilizers in order to grow substances
1849 – A. A. Berthold (1803-1861) – transplanted testicular tissues in fowls to show the effects of caponization could be prevented
1852 – Friedrich Bidder (1810-1894) and Carl Schmidt (1822-1894) – detailed analysis of Prout’s theories back in 1824 proved the gastric acid was in fact hydrochloric acid
1857 – Claude Bernard (1813-1878) – isolated glycogen from the liver
1865 – Carl Voit (1831-1908) – disproved that proteins, carbohydrates, and fats were not oxidized by oxygen immediately to produce energy in the body, but rather a large range of intermediate substances were formed from the original food before being fused with the oxygen (1).
1876 – Willy Kuhne (1837-1900) – isolated trypsin
1881 – Nikolai Ivanovich Lunin (1854-1937) – showed a small amount of milk added to purified diets were adequate enough to keep animals alive
1882 – Kanchiro Takaki (1849-1915) – added fresh meat to the diet of Japanese navy sailors in order to prevent beriberi
1883-1884 Max Rubner (1854-1932) – announced the isodynamic law, which claimed carbs, fats, and proteins were equivalent in caloric (energy burning) value
1890 – Emil Fischer (1852-1919) – Studied structures of purines and polypeptides and opened an understanding of the nitrogen metabolism
1897 – Eduard Buchner (1860-1917) – obtained an extraction of yeast that demonstrated to have fermenting power
1889 – C. E. Brown-Sequard (1817-1894) – injected himself with testicular extracts
1895 – George Oliver (1841-1915) and Edward Sharpey Shafer (1850-1935) – extracts from adrenal gland used in raising blood pressure
1901 – Jokichi Takamine (1854-1922) – isolated adrenaline and epinephrine from the adrenal gland
1901 – Gerrit Grijns (1865-1944) – established beriberi as a deficiency disease
1902 – William Bayliss (1860-1924) and Ernest Starline (1866-1927) – Discovered secretin
1907 – Axel Holst (1861-1931) and Theodore Frolich (1871-1953) – established beriberi to exist in guinea pigs
1912 – Casimir Funk (1884- ) – hypothesis that scurvy, beriberi, and pellagra were present because organic nitrogenous bases in the diet were lacking – coined the term “vitamin” (1)
1914 – Edward Kendall (1886 – ) – Thyroxine isolated
1915 – E. V. McCollum (1879-1967) – showed rats require two substances in a diet, coined them as “fat-soluble A and water soluble B.” (1)
1920 – J. C. Drummond (1891-1952) – used nomenclature to establish the term vitamin, so established vitamin A and vitamin B (1)
- Leicester, Henry M. The Historical Background of Chemistry; Dover Publications Inc: New York, 1956. 230-240.