On February 21st, 1895, Henrik was born in a pharmacist's family in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In p>192, Dam graduated from the Chemistry Department of Copenhagen Institute of Technology. In the same year, he was employed by Copenhagen Agricultural and Veterinary School as a chemistry teacher. Dam has long been interested in biochemistry. But it is not easy for him to get a position specializing in biochemical research at the moment. In agricultural and veterinary schools, the research objects of various disciplines are mostly related to crops, livestock and poultry, which undoubtedly laid a deeper foundation for Dam's later career.
In p>1923, he finally got a lecturer position in the Pathophysiology Laboratory of the Medical College of Copenhagen University. The University of Copenhagen is a famous university in Denmark, with a wealth of talents, books and materials, and instruments and equipment second to none. Damm is glad to be engaged in teaching and scientific research here, and regards it as the best place to learn.
In p>1924, Dam married Ingel. Even in the happy moment of Yan Er's wedding, and in the harmonious and warm days after marriage, he never forgets to make progress in science.
In p>1928, the Institute of Biochemistry of the University of Copenhagen promoted Dam to assistant professor, and in 1929 he was promoted to associate professor.
From p>1928, Dam started the research on "Cholesterol Metabolism in Chicks". He found that in different tissues of animals (such as bile, brain, blood cells, yolk, etc.), although cholesterol substances are contained, their contents are obviously different.
Since p>1929, he has explored the etiology and pathology of some vitamin deficiencies. It is on the basis of these works that Dam chose a promising research topic. At that time, rabbits, mice and dogs were known to synthesize cholesterol by themselves. However, from a published experimental report, it is known that when chicks are fed with a feed with cholesterol removed by extraction, they will have stunted symptoms. When this experimental report was published in 1914, the role of fat-soluble vitamins had not been recognized and valued by people. Therefore, he believes that it will be very meaningful to repeat these experiments by artificial feeding. Dam's assumption: When cholesterol is removed by fat solvent extraction, are there other factors that cause stunting of chickens in addition to cholesterol? So he added cod liver oil to this cholesterol-free feed to supplement vitamins A and D. He found that although chickens can also synthesize cholesterol in the body like rabbits, mice and dogs, if they continue to feed on this feed, they will still develop stunted after two to three weeks. During the experiment, Dam keenly discovered an unexpected phenomenon: under the skin of the chicken, muscles or other organs showed bleeding symptoms. After blood test, it is proved that all chickens in this situation have symptoms of prolonged coagulation time. In order to confirm that the above symptoms were not caused by lack of cholesterol, he added cholesterol to the feed every day for an experiment, and found that the chickens still showed bleeding symptoms. After adding linseed oil and glycerol trioleate, this symptom could not be prevented. It is also proved that lemon juice or vitamin C injection is ineffective for this disease through daily feeding. However, cereals and seeds in feed can prevent this symptom. In 1934, Dam confidently announced that this new experimental disease was caused by the lack of an unknown substance other than cholesterol in the diet. This discovery has attracted the attention of international academic circles.
During p>1932—1933, Damme also got a research position at Rockefeller Foundation, and went to Rudolph Shawn Haimer's laboratory in Frejborg to study the metabolism of sterols.
In p>1934, the University of Copenhagen awarded Damme a doctorate in biochemistry. Subsequently, Dam and his experimental team studied the ability of some animal organs, plants and tissues to resist this disease. They found that pig liver and green leaves had the strongest effect and confirmed that their effective components were fat-soluble.
In p>1935, Dam named this newly discovered fat-soluble substance as vitamin K (Koagu-la-ions-vitamin). The reason why it is named like this is that k is a letter that has not been used to name vitamins; According to Scandinavian and German spelling, k is the first letter of the word "solidification".
Subsequently, Dam went to Zurich, Switzerland to cooperate with Kare in the preparation, purification and identification of fat-soluble vitamin K. They finally extracted nearly pure vitamin K from green leaves in 1939 and reported it. This discovery soon brought good news to clinical medicine. Many diseases previously caused by vitamin K deficiency are no longer regarded as incurable diseases.
on April 9, 194, Hitler launched a blitzkrieg and Denmark fell. Dam resolutely refused to work for fascism and moved to the United States.
In the summer and autumn of p>1941, Damm conducted excellent research in Woodhall Marine Biological Laboratory.
from 1942 to 1945, he worked as a senior research associate professor at the University of Rochester, new york.
In p>1943, he shared this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with American scientist doisy. The main reasons for winning the prize are: in 1929-1934, vitamin K related to blood coagulation was discovered; Doisy synthesized vitamin K in 1939 and determined its structure.
In p>1945, he was engaged in medical research at Rockefeller Institute.
from p>1946, the main research topic was the relationship between vitamin k, vitamin e, fat, cholesterol and related nutrition and the formation of gallstones.
In p>1947, Dam was elected as the campus of Danish Academy of Sciences.
In p>1948, he was appointed as an academician of the Royal Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In p>195, Copenhagen Institute of Technology appointed him as Professor of Biochemistry and Nutrition.
In p>1951, the Royal Belgian Academy of Medical Sciences selected Damme as a foreign academician for flood control.
in p>1954, he was elected honorary member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and president of the International Union of Nutrition Sciences.
from 1956 to 1965, he has been the leader of biochemistry department of Danish fat research institute.
In p>1961, he was elected as a correspondent member of the German Nutrition Society, and was awarded the Norman Medal for his past achievements in fat research.
On April 18th, 1967, Henrik Dam died in Copenhagen at the age of 81.