In the early 1900’s, many people suffered from the disease, beriberi. Scientist Robert R. Williams came to save the day. He found a cure for beriberi in rice husks and discovered that the disease resulted from a lack of the nutrient, thiamine. 

Robert R. Williams showed compassion, perseverance, and vision. He was compassionate because he worked hard to find the cure for beriberi to relieve people’s suffering. I admire that he had to work hard and for a very long time to find the cure. Robert R. Williams is a role model because he worked hard for something he wanted. 

For my art project, I created clay rats and placed them in a clear box that has quotes engraved on it. I made rats because Robert R. Williams used rats to test the cure, and when he finally found it he exclaimed, “The rats say yes!” I learned a lot about Robert R. Williams, but the one thing that stands out to me is that it only took one person to find a cure for a terrible disease. This story is relevant today because beriberi is very rare because many foods are now enriched with thiamine.