Behind the Nobel prize
In 1944, the Danish chemical engineer Henrik Dam was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of vitamin K. Dam discovered vitamin K when he removed lipid substances called sterols from chickenfeed, and saw that the animals subsequently suffered from internal bleeding. When the lipids were returned to the chickenfeed, the chickens’ health improved. Further research showed that their diet lacked a special substance that caused blood to clot. Dam called this substance vitamin K.
Infant bleeding
In 1894, doctors discovered that some newborn infants had internal bleeding. It was initially believed that this was caused by injuries sustained in connection with birth, but Henrik Dam and his colleagues showed that the newborns had very low levels of vitamin K. They gave vitamin K to the affected children, who quickly showed improvement. A study conducted in 1940 showed that just 1% of newborns treated with vitamin K suffered from bleeding. In a control group, by contrast, 10.4% had bleeding.
The sum of our knowledge
Throughout his career, Henrik Dam was the coordinator of a melting pot in which doctors, dentists, laboratory technicians, veterinarians, engineers and others all played a role with their various types of expertise. He also possessed a large international network. The interaction between the scientists was complex, because they were at some level also competitors. It was a matter of being the first to have new knowledge recognised, and acquiring resources for the work. Some of Dam’s partners have since fallen into obscurity. Some important articles were for example co-written with a certain Liese Lewis, but no one has been able to find out more about Lewis.
Career
Henrik Dam graduated from DTU as a chemical engineer in 1920. He chose to take the research scientist path, and worked at various universities. In 1941 Dam was appointed professor at DTU, but he happened to be in the United States when the US entered World War Two, and had to remain there until the end of the war. After returning to Denmark, Henrik Dam reformed the Biotechnical Chemistry programme at DTU and changed it to the more modern Biochemistry. The Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition was founded in 1950.
The price of knowledge
Experiments with animals led to the discovery of vitamin K, and would hardly have been possible without them. In Dam’s time, decisions about animal experimentation were left to the ethical compass of the individual scientist. Today, animal experimentation is regulated at EU level, and permits must be applied for at national level. The application must explain how the experimentation will meet the 3R principles: replacement, reduction and refinement.
