August 11:
(1) (1722) English physician Richard Brocklesby is born. He published the book Economical and Medical Observations which outlined suggestions on how to improve hygiene in army hospitals.
(2) (1858) Dutch physician Christiaan Eijkman is born. He demonstrated that beriberi is caused by a poor diet, which later led to the discovery that beriberi results from a vitamin B1 deficiency.
(3) (1905) Austro-Hungarian biochemist Erwin Chargaff is born. He developed the Chargaff’s rules of DNA bases, which later were used to discover DNA’s helical shape.
