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The water-soluble vitamin C is probably the most well-known vitamin. Even before its discovery in 1932, physicians recognized that there must be a compound in citrus fruits preventing scurvy, a disease that killed as many as two million sailors between 1500 and 1800. Later researchers discovered that man, other primates and the guinea pig depend on external sources to cover their vitamin C requirements. Most other animals are able to synthesize vitamin C from glucose and galactose in their bodies.
| c. 400 BC | Hippocrates describes the symptoms of scurvy. |
| 1747 | British naval physician James Lind prescribes citrus fruits and fresh vegetables to prevent and cure scurvy. |
| 1907 | Scurvy is experimentally produced in guinea pigs by Holst and Frohlich. |
| 1917 | Bioassay developed by Chick and Hume to determine the anti-scorbutic properties of foods. |
| 1930 | Szent-Györgyi demonstrates that the hexuronic acid which he had first isolated from pigs' adrenal glands in 1928 is identical to vitamin C, which he could extract in large quantities from sweet peppers. |
| 1932 | In independent efforts, Haworth and King establish the chemical structure of vitamin C. |
| 1932 | The relationship between vitamin C and anti-scorbutic factor is discovered by Szent-Györgyi and at the same time by King and Waugh. |
| 1933 | In Basel, Reichstein synthesizes ascorbic acid identical to natural vitamin C. This is the first step towards the vitamin's industrial production in 1935. |
| 1937 | Haworth and Szent-Györgyi receive the Nobel Prize for their research on vitamin C. |
| 1970 | Pauling draws world-wide attention with his controversial bestseller "Vitamin C and the Common Cold". |
| 1975-79 | Experimental studies in vitro illustrate the antioxidant and singlet oxygen-quenching properties of vitamin C. |
| 1979 | Packer and coworkers observe the free radical interaction of vitamin E and vitamin C. |
| 1982 | Niki demonstrates the regeneration of vitamin E by vitamin C in model reactions. |
| 1985 | The worldwide requirement for vitamin C is estimated at 30,000-35,000 tons per year. Today it amounts to120,000 tons per year. |
| 1988 | National Cancer Institute (USA) recognizes the inverse relationship between Vitamin C intake and various forms of cancer and issues guidelines to increase vitamin C in the diet. |
| 1989 | Recommended Daily Intake (RDA) of 60 milligrams for the average healthy adult was established - The Food & Nutrition Board of the National Research Council (USA). This was the first time the RDAs had taken into account the importance of environment and lifestyle factors in establishing the need for a vitamin. |
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| Spoonwort (Cochlearia officinalis) was recommended as “scurvy-grass” as early as the 16th century | Distribution of lemons and oranges in the Navy in 1747 |
