Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (Finnish:[ˈɑrtːuriˈilmɑriˈʋirtɑnen]ⓘ; 15 January 1895 – 11 November 1973) was aFinnish chemist and recipient of the 1945Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method".[1]
He invented AIV silage which improved milk production and a method of preserving butter, the AIV salt, which led to increased Finnish butter exports.[2]
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen was born on 15 January 1895, inHelsinki,Finland . He is the son of Kaarlo Virtanen, a railway engine driver and Serafina Isotalo.[3]
He completed his school education at the Classical Lyceum inViipuri, Finland. He married thebotanist Lilja Moisio (1894-1972) in 1920 and had two sons with her.[4]
In 1933, he bought a farm near Helsinki where he tested some of his scientific results in practice.[2] He saw in the overproduction of food only a temporary phenomenon. He lived a simple life, he never had a car of his own, never smoked and never consumed alcohol. He died of pneumonia in November 1973, following a broken femur from a fall few weeks prior. He was buried at theHietaniemi Cemetery.[5]
Virtanen began his studies at the University of Helsinki in chemistry 1913 earning his Master and in 1918 his PhD in organic chemistry. In 1919 he started to work in the laboratories ofValio, a large producer ofdairy products and became director of the laboratory in 1920. Feeling not fully qualified and following his interest inbotany andzoology led him to further scientific education and so he leftValio and studied at theETH, theUniversity of Münster and theStockholm University he studiedphysical chemistry,soil chemistry andmicrobiology. In 1923 in Sweden he worked withHans von Euler-Chelpin, who was awarded with theNobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929. Back in Finland he became lecturer at the University of Helsinki in 1924, known for his lectures on chemistry of life. He worked in the laboratory of the Butter Export Association, which became a laboratory of the university. In 1930 the Institute for Biochemistry was founded and Virtanen stayed there until his death in 1973. He became professor of biochemistry at theHelsinki University of Technology in 1931 and at theUniversity of Helsinki in 1939.[2]
His research started with work on thephosphorylation ofhexoses in 1924. He was able to show that phosphorylation is the first step in many fermentation reactions, which was the foundation of theEmbden–Meyerhof pathway.
In 1925 his interests shifted to the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the root nodules ofleguminous plants. The improved methods of butter preservation, by addingdisodium phosphate to prevent acidic hydrolysis. This method was in use for several decades in Finland. His research from 1925 till 1932 included the invention of a fodder preservation method (AIV fodder). The method, patented in 1932, was basically a kind ofsilage that improved the storage of green fodder, which is important during long winters. The process includes adding dilute hydrochloric orsulfuric acid to newly stored grain. Increased acidity stops harmful fermentation and has no adverse effect on the nutritive value of the fodder or the animals it is fed to. In 1945, Virtanen received theNobel Prize in chemistry "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry".[4]
His later years studies included the development of partially synthetic cattle feeds. The nitrogen for the synthesis ofamino acids normally comes fromproteins in the fodder. A special bacterial environment in therumen of cattle allows them to useurea andammonium salts as source for the nitrogen instead of plant proteins likesoybean ormeat and bone meal. He also headed the Valio Laboratory from 1921 to 1969.
The prestige conferred by the Nobel Prize brought Virtanen invitations, honorary doctorates and membership in foreign academies of science.[2] He was a member of the Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish, Bavarian, and Pontifical Academies of Science, and of the Swedish and Danish Academies of Engineering Sciences. He was an honorary member of learned societies in Finland, Sweden, Austria, Edinburgh, and the US, and received honorary degrees of the Universities of Lund, Paris, Giessen, and Helsinki, the Royal Technical College at Stockholm, and the Finland Institute of Technology.[4]
R. A. Kyle; M. A. Shampo (1981). "Artturi Ilmari Virtanen".Journal of the American Medical Association.246 (2): 150.doi:10.1001/jama.246.2.150 (inactive 12 August 2025).PMID7017179.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2025 (link)
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture on 12 December 1945The Biological Fixation of Nitrogen and the Preservation of Fodder in Agriculture, and Their Importance to Human Nutrition
![Photograph of a delegation (including L. A. Puntila [fi]) visiting professor A. I. Virtanen on his 70th birthday in 1965](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aA-I-Virtanen-1965.jpg)
