Credited to Hungary. Szent-Gyorgyi first isolated the substance, which he named hexuronic acid, in 1928 while working outside Hungary. The proof that it is vitamin C was made in Szeged, but Charles Glen King of the University of Pittsburgh reached the same conclusion and published on April 1, 1932, two weeks before Szent-Gyorgyi's note appeared in Nature. The Nobel Prize went to Szent-Gyorgyi alone.
How it began
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi isolated a substance he named hexuronic acid and published it in 1928, before he returned to Hungary. In 1930 he became professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Szeged. There Joseph Svirbely, an American-born researcher in his laboratory, tested it on guinea pigs, which like humans cannot make their own vitamin C. Animals fed boiled food developed scurvy, while those given hexuronic acid stayed healthy. The two concluded that hexuronic acid was the long-sought vitamin C and renamed it ascorbic acid.
Before it existed
Scurvy had been a leading cause of disability and death among sailors since the end of the 15th century. The British medical community recognized the value of citrus in 1753, and lime juice was issued to all naval vessels from 1795. Nobody knew which substance in the juice gave the protection.
How it works
The hexuronic acid available before Szeged came in tiny amounts from adrenal glands and citrus juice. Szent-Gyorgyi found a rich source in paprika, the local crop of Szeged. By one account, he took fresh paprika served at supper to his laboratory to test it. From paprika he produced three pounds of pure crystalline ascorbic acid, enough for chemists to work out what it was.
Who pushed back
Charles Glen King of the University of Pittsburgh, in whose laboratory Svirbely had earlier worked, came to the same conclusion. King published an announcement in Science on April 1, 1932, two weeks before Szent-Gyorgyi's note appeared in Nature. The Science History Institute describes the sequence of events and communications between the two groups as still disputed.
What lasted
With a plentiful source, the structure of the vitamin was known within two years and Walter Haworth at the University of Birmingham synthesized it. Szent-Gyorgyi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. The American Chemical Society counts the work among the foundations of modern nutrition and designated it an International Historic Chemical Landmark at the University of Szeged in 2002.
