Say Your Prayers and Take Your Vitamins

Today we are able to celebrate the life of English scientist Walter Norman Haworth, the former Noble Prize winner for being the first to synthetically produce a vitamin. Ironically March 19th is the day that Haworth was born, in 1883, and also the day that he passed away, in 1950. Born in Chorley, Lancashire, England, Haworth finished grade school at the age of 14 and then went to work in a linoleum factory with his father. He was thoroughly unhappy with this line of work, and decided at the age of 20 to attend University, despite his parents’ displeasure. In just 7 years, he was able to gain the first of his two doctorates.

Haworth spent the bulk of his early career researching carbohydrates, during which he was able to figure out the structure of carbohydrate molecules. His methods are still commonly used today. His methods were responsible for allowing him to figure out the molecular structure of hexuronic acid, or what is more commonly known as vitamin C. This marks the first time in history that anyone was able to artificially make a vitamin, and earned Mr. Haworth the Nobel Prize.