Sir Edward Mellanby [1] (8 April 1884 – 30 January 1955)[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] was a British biochemist and nutritionist who discovered vitamin D and its role in preventing rickets in 1919.

[10] Mellanby was born in West Hartlepool, the son of a shipyard owner, and educated at Barnard Castle School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied physiology.

After working as a research student from 1905 to 1907, Mellanby studied medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital in London, and in 1913 became a medical doctor.

He served as a lecturer at King's College for Women in London from 1913 to 1920, during which time he was asked to investigate the cause of rickets.

[17] Publications include Nutrition and Disease – the Interaction of Clinical and Experimental Work (Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1934).