History of Vitamin C

1747      - James Lind based in Scotland experiments with citrus fruits and developed a thesis to show that oranges and lemons were more effective than other treatments for scurvy.

1752    - James Lind completes and publishes his A Treatise of the Scurvy

1790s – The British Navy adopts Linds approach to the treatment of scurvy

1912 - Vitamin C is rediscovered by the Norwegians, A. Hoist and T. Froelich

1928 - Vilhjalmur Stefansson researches why Eskimos (Inuit) do not suffer from scurvy although they do not eat fruit

1928 - Szent-Gyorgy identifies a crystalline substance in the Adrenal Glands of an Ox

1932 - Szent-Gyorgy is joined by Sir Walter Haworth who identify and name the substance Ascorbic acid

1935 - Vitamin C is the first vitamin to be artificially synthesized.

1938 - Szent-Gyorgy and Sir Walter Haworth are presented with the Nobel prize for there work with Ascorbic Acid

1957 - JJ Burns identifies inability of human liver to produce the enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase as the cause of scurvy

1960s - Linus Pauling starts his nobel prize winning research into Vitamin C