Robert R. Williams - The Man Who Beat Beriberi

Robert R. Williams discovered thiamin, cured beriberi, and worked to enrich foods.

Born in 1886 to a missionary family in Nellore, India. From a young age, he saw the terrible effects of the disease beriberi. He watched children and Indian soldiers grow weak and die, and no one knew why. When Williams was ten years old, his father was paralyzed in an accident, and the family moved to Kansas. Even in his new home, Robert never forgot the pain he had seen in India.

Williams was a gifted student. He graduated from high school at age 14 and worked hard to pay his way through Ottawa University in Kansas. After two years, he transferred to the University of Chicago, earning a master’s degree in chemistry in 1908. Remembering the suffering he had witnessed as a child, Williams decided to devote his life to finding a cure for beriberi. He moved to Manila in the Philippines to work as a chemist. There, he met Dr. Edward Vedder, who gave him the task that would define his career, finding a cure for the disease.

When World War I began, Williams joined the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service as a research chemist. After the war, he worked for Western Electric Company but never stopped searching for answers about beriberi. He even built a small laboratory in his home, using household objects as equipment to save money.

Beriberi had been around for thousands of years. The word means “I can’t, I can’t” in the Singhalese language because victims are too weak to stand. It can damage the heart, sometimes causing heart failure. It can also harm the nervous system, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis, and death if untreated. At the time, scientists debated whether beriberi was caused by germs or a lack of nutrients. Williams believed it was caused by a nutritional deficiency and began running experiments to prove it.

Through his research, Williams discovered that a substance in rice husks, later called thiamin, could prevent and cure beriberi. Finding thiamin was only the first step. He had to isolate it, break it down, and then recreate it so it could be tested as a treatment.

To test thiamin, Williams used what became known as the “rat test.” He infected rats with beriberi, then spun them by the tail and set them on a flat surface. Sick rats could not regain their balance, while healthy rats could quickly stand and run away. One day, after three days of thiamin treatment, a once-sick rat spun, recovered, and scampered off. Williams was so excited that he called a friend and shouted, “The rats say yes!”

In September 1933, Williams applied for a patent for thiamin. This move was controversial among scientists, but the patent pushed companies to compete in making the vitamin, which lowered costs and made it widely available. Soon, beriberi patients were finding relief simply by eating foods rich in thiamin. Williams also started a nationwide campaign to add vitamins to everyday foods.

His efforts changed public health. Today, most rice, grains, and cereals are enriched with thiamin. This has greatly reduced the suffering and death caused by vitamin deficiencies like beriberi. Thanks to his work, enriched foods are also sent overseas to fight malnutrition and help during disasters.

Robert R. Williams turned a childhood memory of tragedy into a lifelong mission. His discovery of thiamin has saved millions of lives around the world. By refusing to give up, even when the challenge seemed impossible, Williams proved that one person’s determination can change the course of history.

References:
Arnold, David. “British India and the ‘Beriberi Problem’, 1798-1942.” Medical History, U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 2010, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2889456/.
“NIHF Inductee Robert Williams Invented Vitamin Synthesis.” NIHF Inductee Robert Williams Invented Vitamin Synthesis, www.invent.org/inductees/robert-r-williams.

Key words:
Science, Innovation, Perseverance, Courage, Responsibility, Repair the World – Tikkun Olam, Make a Difference, Challenge Injustices

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