Nikolai Ivanovich Lunin

Lunin, Nikolai Ivanovich

 

Born Jan. 20 (Feb. 1), 1853, in Tartu; died June 18, 1937, in Leningrad. Soviet pediatrician.

Lunin graduated from the University of Dorpat (now Tartu). He worked as a physician in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) from the early 1880’s until his death. In 1880 he defended his doctoral dissertation, The Importance of Inorganic Salts in Animal Nutrition, in which he showed that in addition to proteins, fats, carbohydrates, salts, and water, certain special substances (later called vitamins) are also needed for animals to develop and live normally.

REFERENCE

Martinson, E. E. 70-letie osnovaniia ucheniia o vitaminakh N. I. Luninym v Tartuskom universitete, 1880-1950. Tallinn, 1951. (Includes a translation of Lunin’s dissertation.)