US born physician and scientists, Edward Bright Vedder was a director of pathology at the Army Medical School from 1904-1913. From 1925 to 1929, he served as a chief of medical research for the chemical warfare.
Later he was sent to the Philippines, where he developed his research and laboratory skills in the study of malaria, amoebic dysentery dengue and a host of other tropical diseases.
Beriberi remained a serious and common illness in the Far East. Vedder treated beriberi successfully with rice polishing. The explanation was given that the presence of most of the outer layers of the caryopsis in undermilled and especially in parboiled rice prevented the onset of the disease.
He advised local Philippine scouts under American army officers to change their rations from polished white rice to a mixture of dried beans and unpolished brown rice.
In 1933 William succeeded in determining the structure of thiamine, ahead of his many competitors. Three years later together with Joseph K. Cline and Jacob Finkeltstein, he had synthesis thiamine.
In 1925, he authored Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare, which became a standard work on the effects of chemical weapons.
Edward Bright Vedder (1878-1952)
