Christiaan Eijkman

1 9.9

A Dutch doctor who discovered that beriberi is caused by lack of vitamins

proper noun

: Christiaan Eijkman

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Christiaan Eijkman for his important work on beriberi.

Examples

Dr. Christiaan Eijkman won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1929.
Christiaan Eijkman's discovery changed the understanding of nutritional diseases in the early 20th century.
Medical students often study the contributions of Christiaan Eijkman to public health and nutrition.
Did Christiaan Eijkman discover the cause of beriberi?
Christiaan Eijkman significantly advanced medical knowledge by identifying the nutritional cause of beriberi.
In 1929, Christiaan Eijkman received the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking research on dietary deficiencies.
The health implications of Christiaan Eijkman's findings on beriberi are still relevant in nutrition studies today.

Surface Forms

Christiaan Eijkman main

Morphology

Christiaan + Eijkman

This is a proper name composed of two personal-name elements that carry no descriptive meaning about the person’s profession or historical contribution; knowing the constituent names (or that they are names) does not allow a learner to infer that he was a Dutch physician who discovered the cause of beriberi. Proper nouns are largely arbitrary across languages and thus not compositionally informative, so the referential/biographical meaning must be learned separately.

Etymology

Christiaan Eijkman discovered the cause of beriberi by watching chickens: birds fed white rice grew weak while those given brown, whole rice stayed healthy. So, he showed that the illness came from a missing nutrient — a 'nutritional deficiency' — which is why his work is linked to diet and health.