Albert Szent-Györgyi Google Doodle: Discovered Vitamin C

Why Are There Oranges on Google?

The September 16 Google Doodle is in honor of Albert Szent-Györgyi, born on this day in 1893. Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt was a Nobel Prize-winning physiologist who discovered Vitamin C, as well as founding the National Foundation for Cancer Research.

As oranges are closely associated with Vitamin C, an old-school image, like that you'd find on a vintage orange crate, graces Google's homepage, mainly because paprika, with which Albert Szent-Györgyi did much of his work, just doesn't look as cool.

Albert Szent-Györgyi won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1937. Shortly after, he joined the Hungarian resistance movement. Adolf Hitler issued Szent-Györgyi's arrest papers. The Hungarian government helped Albert Szent-Györgyi escape to Egypt, and he returned after the war to serve in communist Hungary's Parliament.

In 1947, Albert Szent-Györgyi emigrated to the USA, where he continued his work on Vitamin C, pursuing its role as a fighter of free radicals, which Szent-Györgyi believed to be a cause for cancer. He also established the National Foundation of Cancer Research.

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Google Doodle: Oranges for Albert Szent-Györgyi

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