Conrad Arnold Elvehjem (May 27, 1901July 27, 1962) was internationally known as an American
biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...
in
nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...
. In 1937 he identified two
vitamin
A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its ...
s, nicotinic acid, also known as
niacin
Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, is an organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient. It can be manufactured by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Niacin is obtained in the diet from a variet ...
, and nicotinamide,
which were deficient directly in human
pellagra
Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to either sunlight or friction are typically affected first. Over t ...
, once a major health problem in the United States. Collectively, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide are termed vitamin B
3 and are now understood to be precursors of
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is a coenzyme central to metabolism. Found in all living cells, NAD is called a dinucleotide because it consists of two nucleotides joined through their phosphate groups. One nucleotide contains an aden ...
.
Biography
Conrad Elvehjem, the son of
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
emigrants to Wisconsin,
[ ] was born in
McFarland, Wisconsin
The Village of McFarland is located on Lake Waubesa adjacent to the southeast side of the City of Madison in Dane County. The population was 8,991 at the 2020 United States Census. McFarland has approximately 43.50 road miles, is slightly le ...
. He progressed through the secondary schools and the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, where he received his PhD in 1927
with mentor E. B. Hart for his studies of the importance of copper in iron-deficiency anemia. A National Research Council fellowship permitted a year at Cambridge University in England. Elvehjem began teaching in agricultural chemistry at the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in 1923, and became a full professor in 1936.
He became chairman of the biochemistry department in 1944 and dean of the graduate school in 1946, at 45 years of age. He served as dean of the graduate school until he became the university's 13th president in 1958.
Picking up on the work of
Joseph Goldberger
Joseph Goldberger ( sk, Jozef Goldberger, hu, Goldberger József) (July 16, 1874 – January 17, 1929) was an American physician and epidemiologist in the United States Public Health Service (PHS). As a public health official, he was an advocate ...
, he found that nicotinic acid cured black tongue in dogs, an analogous disease to pellagra. In the previous year, Elvehjem and his colleague Carl J. Koehn had found that a
filtrate
Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter m ...
factor from a liver extract could cure diet-induced pellagra in chicks. That filtrate extract was designated as the
vitamin G
Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is a vitamin found in food and sold as a dietary supplement. It is essential to the formation of two major coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide. These coenzymes are involved in e ...
fraction, after the late Goldberger. To confirm their findings in dogs, they induced black tongue in these animals with the Goldberger diet of yellow corn, before supplementing the diet with the vitamin G fraction. Elvehjem and his colleagues later were able to isolate and identify
nicotinamide
Niacinamide or Nicotinamide (NAM) is a form of vitamin B3 found in food and used as a dietary supplement and medication. As a supplement, it is used by mouth to prevent and treat pellagra (niacin deficiency). While nicotinic acid (niacin) may ...
and nicotonic acid from vitamin G as the curative factors for black tongue in dogs. He also contributed greatly to the identification of
vitamin B
B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. Though these vitamins share similar names (B1, B2, B3, etc.), they are chemically distinct compounds that often coexist ...
complex and was co-author of more than 780 scientific papers on biochemistry and nutrition.
Elvehjem commented frequently on nutrition as it affects both scientist and layman. "Vitamins should be obtained from natural foods if possible", he cautioned. "Generally they are cheaper, more palatable, and in better balance with other factors when taken in this form." He acknowledged the value of synthetic vitamins in treating deficiency diseases, but warned that their use should be temporary.
Elvehjem's first graduate student (in 1931) was noted nutritionist
Fredrick John Stare
Fredrick John Stare (April 11, 1910 – April 4, 2002) was an American nutritionist regarded as one of the country's most influential teachers of nutrition.
Life and career
Stare was born in Columbus, Wisconsin, and educated in chemistry a ...
(1910–2002) who later founded and chaired the department of nutrition at the
Harvard School of Public Health
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...
, where he served until 1976.
Elvehjem met his wife Constance W. Elvehjem when she was an undergraduate at UW Madison. She died in 1999 at the age of 94 after many years supporting the museum and the Madison community. Elvehjem was stricken with a heart attack at his desk on the morning of July 27, 1962, at the age of sixty-one and died within the hour.
Awards
*
Willard Gibbs Medal
The Willard Gibbs Award, presented by thChicago Sectionof the American Chemical Society, was established in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862–1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor Jo ...
– 1943
*
Albert Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was f ...
for clinical medical research – 1952
Legacy
Elvehjem's name appears on university awards, buildings, a town park, and a local
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
in
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
,
another in Mc Farland, and a neighbourhood on the South-East Side of Madison nearby and its associated neighbourhood association. His name was formerly on the Elvehjem Art Center (later the
Elvehjem Museum of Art
The Chazen Museum of Art is an art museum located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The Chazen Museum of Art is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
History
Until 2005, the Museum was known regularly as th ...
), until the museum received a $20 million donation from Simona and Jerome A. Chazen (both UW–Madison alumni), and renamed itself the
Chazen Museum of Art
The Chazen Museum of Art is an art museum located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The Chazen Museum of Art is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
History
Until 2005, the Museum was known regularly as th ...
. The original building housing the museum retains the Elvehjem name.
References
Other sources
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External links
Madison, Wisconsin neighborhood is named for him complete with eponymous parkUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison dedication*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elvehjem, Conrad
1901 births
1962 deaths
American biochemists
American people of Norwegian descent
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences alumni
Leaders of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Recipients of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
People from McFarland, Wisconsin
Vitamin researchers
20th-century American academics