Takaki Kanehiro

Baron Takaki Kanehiro (高木 兼寛; 30 October 1849 – 12 April 1920) was a Japanese naval physician best known for identifying the first effective preventive measure against beriberi, a disease caused by vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency. His pioneering work focused on combating the high incidence of beriberi among sailors in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), who had subsisted on a diet primarily composed of polished white rice.

Source: “Takaki Kanehiro”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt