Virtanen, Artturi Ilmari, 1895–1973, Finnish chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Helsinki, 1918. Virtanen was on the faculty at the Univ. of Helsinki from 1924 until his death in 1973. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1945 for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method. He developed a technique for avoiding fermentation in stored green fodder, which is essential to raising healthy animals in northern climates where the long winters limit the availability of fresh fodder. The technique, which came to be known as the AIV method (from Virtanen's initials), preserves feed without protein loss and with minimal vitamin loss.
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