Artturi Virtanen was a biochemist known by his studes about fermentations and by apply them to human and animal nutrition, being considered a precursor of modern biotechnology.

Artturi Ilmari Virtanen was born at Helsinki ( Finland ) on january 15 th , 1895 . He studied Chemistri, Physics and Biology at Helsinki University and, later, he extended studies in Switzerland , Germany and Sweden . In 1921, he returned to his native city and began his investigations in Biochemistry.

Virtanen studied aspects of glucose fermentation, some bacterial fermentations and nitrogen fixation which takes place in the root nodules of leguminous plants. Also Virtanen studied the effect of pH and temperature on these fermentations and this allowed him to develop his fodder preservation method (AIV method), of great importance in regions with long and hard winters.

AIV method consists simply on adding acid to fodder until lowering its pH to aproximately 4, so most of bacterial fermentations are inhibited and carotenes are conserved. Virtanen demonstrated experimentaly that cows fed with this type of fodder produce indistinguishable milk, as much in taste as in vitaminic content, of milk produced by cows fed with fresh fodder. For this reason, Virtanen received the 1945 Nobel prize in Chemistry.

Artturi Virtanen died in 1973.

More information:

• Nobel e-Museum.
• Cartage.