McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Science and Technology Series
- Categories: Science, Medicine, Health
- Subcategories: Biology, Biologists, Scientists, Epidemics, Diseases
- Curriculum: American History 1901-1950
- Geographical Location: Maryland
- Date: 1922
Article abstract: McCollum and collaborators established the existence of vitamin D, named it, and contributed to its use in the eradication of rickets.
Summary of Event
Rickets (or rachitis) is a disease that causes abnormal bone formation, particularly in the long bones and the ribs. First described in the second century c.e. by Galen of Pergamum and Soranus of Ephesus, rickets was a widespread health problem until discovery and dissemination of the antirachitic factor, vitamin D. Elmer Verner McCollum and coworkers pioneered this effort in 1922,...
[The entire page is 1944 words long]
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