Research discoveries do not follow a simple path from A to B although this may appear to be the case to those not familiar with the history of a discovery. A simple observation made by one person eventually led to the development of the modern paradigm, the vitamins-as-treatment paradigm but the pathway was tortuous and difficult and depended upon events that were unpredictable. This then is a brief look at how an observation I made on myself opened up the whole field of nutritional medicine and paved the way for the use of vitamins and other nutrients in optimum doses in spite of intense opposition led by followers of the old paradigm, the vitamin-as-prevention paradigm. Dr. William B. Parsons, Jr., plays a major role in this development. I am delighted with his report which appears in this issue of the Journal.