Virtanen

Finnish biochemist. Born in Helsinki. Studied chemistry, biology and physics at the University of Helsinki, and received his D.Sc. in 1919. In the same year he became a member of the Vario Institute of the Finnish Dairy Cooperative, and in 1921 he became its director. In 1931 he became director of the Helsinki Biochemical Institute, a position he held for life. In 1924 he became a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Helsinki, and in 1931 he became a professor of chemistry at the Finnish University of Technology. In 1939 he became a professor at the University of Helsinki. He studied fermentation and nitrogen metabolism, and discovered many vitamins and amino acids, and worked to apply these findings to practical agriculture. He studied the mechanism of nitrogen fixation by legume root nodule bacteria, and clarified the fermentation process of green grass feed stored in silos, and developed a method (AIV method) to prevent deterioration by keeping it acidic. This contributed to dairy farming in Northern Europe as a storage method that provided high-protein feed for dairy cows in the winter. For this achievement he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1945. This assessment has been questioned by non-Nordic scientists since then, with one theory being that it was a diplomatic price paid for Sweden not helping Finland in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1940.

Source: Morikita Publishing "Chemical Dictionary (2nd Edition)" Information about the Chemical Dictionary 2nd Edition

フィンランドの生化学者．ヘルシンキに生まれる．ヘルシンキ大学で化学，生物学，物理学を学び，1919年D.Sc.を取得．同年フィンランド酪農協同組合ヴァリオ研究所所員．1921年同所長．1931年ヘルシンキ生化学研究所所長になり，終身その職にあった．1924年ヘルシンキ大学化学講師．1931年フィンランド工科大学生化学教授．1939年ヘルシンキ大学教授．発酵や窒素代謝を研究し，また多数のビタミン類やアミノ酸を発見し，それらの研究を実地の農業に応用することに努めた．マメ科の根粒バクテリアによる窒素固定の機構を研究し，また，サイロに貯蔵された緑草飼料の発酵過程を明らかにして，これを酸性に保つことにより変質を防ぐ方法(AIV法)を開発した．これは，冬季の乳牛に高タンパク質飼料を供給する貯蔵法として，北欧の酪農に貢献した．この業績により，1945年ノーベル化学賞を受賞．この評価について，当時から北欧以外の科学者から疑念が提起されており，1940年のソビエト-フィンランド戦争で，スウェーデンがフィンランドを助けなかった外交的代償だったという説がある．

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