Mozart and Sunblock
August 27, 2011
The journal Medical Problems of Performing Artists has an article positing a Vitamin D deficiency as the cause of Mozart’s early death.
As the authors — “Stefan Pilz (who, if he plays his cards right, will hereafter be known as ‘Vitamin’ Pilz) and William B Grant” — summarize in The Guardian:
Mozart did much of his composing at night, so would have slept during much of the day. At the latitude of Vienna, 48º N, it is impossible to make vitamin D from solar ultraviolet-B irradiance for about six months of the year. Mozart died on 5 December, 1791, two to three months into the vitamin D winter.
RogerEvansOnline.com 