Artturi Ilmari Virtanen was born January 15, 1895, in Helsinki, Finland. He began his education at the Classical Lyceum in Viipuri (now Vyborg, Russia). Upon graduation, he entered the University of Helsinki to study biology, chemistry, and physics. Virtanen received his master of science degree in 1916 and worked briefly as an assistant chemist in the Central Industrial Laboratory of Helsinki. That same year he returned to the University to continue his studies and in 1919 he received his doctorate. Interested in a broad range of scientific subjects, Virtanen traveled extensively to pursue his studies. In 1920 he left for Zurich, Switzerland, to undertake postgraduate work in physical chemistry. The next year he had moved to Stockholm, Sweden, to study bacteriology, and in 1923 he worked on enzymology with Hans Euler-Chelpin. At this time Virtanen discovered the subject that would become his life work, biochemistry.

Virtanen was interested in both the theoretical and practical...