Harry Steenbock - Vitamin D

Vitamin D

Steenbock grew up near New Holstein, Wisconsin. In 1923, Harry Steenbock demonstrated that irradiation by ultraviolet light increased the vitamin D content of foods and other organic materials. After irradiating rodent food, Steenbock discovered that the rodents were cured of rickets. It is now known that Vitamin D deficiency is a cause of rickets.

Using $300 of his own money, Steenbock patented his invention. Steenbock's irradiation technique was used for food stuffs, but most memorably for milk. By the expiration of the patent in 1945, rickets had all but been eliminated.