Ascorbic acid was not isolated from lemons until 1932, though the scourge of scurvy (a vitamin C deficiency disease), has been present for thousands of years. It was first written about circa 1500 B.C and then described by Aristotle in 450 B.C as a syndrome characterized by lack of energy, gum inflammation, tooth decay and bleeding problems.  In the 1700?s high percentages of sailors with the British navy and other fleets died from scurvy, until James Lind discovered that the juice of lemons could cure and also prevent this devastating and deadly disease. The ships then carried British West Indies limes for the sailors to consume daily to maintain health, thus these sailors became known as " limeys." Other cultures of the world discovered their own sources of vitamin C.

Citrus fruits were used to cure scurvy as early as the 16th century. The curative effect of fresh vegetables and lemons was recognized in 1720 by the Austrian military physician J. G. H. Kramer, but this insight did not spread very far.  About 30 years after Kramer, the British ships doctor J. Lind wrote a book about scurvy in which he recommended fresh vegetables and citrus fruits as cures.

As early as 1860, A. Hirsch expressed the suspicion that scurvy is due to a deficiency in a nutritional factor.  Hirsch attempted to support his hypothesis by a historical study of the known scurvy epidemics. Toward the end of the 19th century, the incidence of scurvy slowly declined.  Fresh vegetables, citrus fruits, potatoes and sauerkraut were major contributing factors to this improvement.

In order to identify the nutritional factor postulated by Hirsch, A. Holst and F. Frohlich undertook animal feeding studies in 1907.  They discovered that guinea pigs fed a restricted diet develop symptoms similar to those of human scurvy. With an appropriate test animal, it was possible to test many foods for their antiscorbutic effects and to study in detail the effects of scurvy on tissues and organs. As suggested by J.C. Drummond, the antiscorbutic factor was named "Vitamin C".

The first isolation of vitamin C came in a completely unexpected fashion.  In 1926,  during the course of his studies on biological oxidation process, A. Szent-Gyorgyi , obtained a crystalline substance from the adrenal cortex, which he first called Cx11.  In 1928, he renamed the substance "hexuronic acid", on the basis of it?s chemical properties.  The identity of the substance was announced in 1932.  In that same year, the first vitamin C crystals were also produced from plant concentrates.  Szent-Gyorgyi and W.N. Haworth renamed the vitamin "Ascorbic Acid" in 1933.