Justus Von Liebig is regarded as the father of home science. He was a German scientist who made significant contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry and is regarded as one of organic chemistry’s founders.
As a result of his inventions as a professor at the University of Giessen, he is considered one of the finest chemistry instructors in history.
Justus Von Liebig
About Justus Von Liebig
Justus Freiherr von Liebig (May 12, 1803 – April 20, 1873) was a German scientist who made significant contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry and is widely regarded as one of the founders of organic chemistry.
As a professor at the University of Giessen, he developed the current laboratory-oriented teaching technique, for which he is considered one of the finest chemistry instructors of all time.
He has been called the “father of the fertilizer industry” due to his emphasis on nitrogen and trace minerals as important nutrients and his formulation of the law of the minimal level, which described how plant growth depended on the scarcest nutrient resource rather than the total amount of available resources.
He also invented a method for producing beef extracts. With his permission, the Liebig Extract of Meat Company was created to commercialize the idea; it eventually introduced the Oxo brand beef bouillon cube. He popularized a previous device for condensing vapors known as the Liebig condenser.
Justus Liebig was born in Darmstadt in early May 1803 to Johann Georg Liebig and Maria Caroline Moser, who belonged to a middle-class family. His father was a drysalter and hardware dealer who manufactured and marketed paints, varnishes, and pigments in his workshop.
At the age of 13, Liebig endured a year without summer, during which the vast majority of crop production in the Northern Hemisphere was wiped off by a volcanic winter.
It is believed that Liebig’s later work was influenced by the fact that Germany was one of the nations hardest impacted by the subsequent global hunger.
Due partly to Liebig’s discoveries in fertilizers and agriculture, the famine of 1816 was dubbed “the last great food crisis in Western Europe.”
From 8 to 14, Liebig attended elementary school at the Ludwig-Georg-Gymnasium in Darmstadt.
Before returning home, he served as an apprentice to the apothecary Gottfried Pirsch (1792–1870) in Heppenheim for several months. It is possible that his father could not afford to pay his indentures.
He then attended the University of Bonn and studied under his father’s business associate, Karl Wilhelm Gottfried Kastner. Liebig followed Kastner when he relocated to the University of Erlangen.
In April 1824, Liebig left Paris to return to Darmstadt. Liebig became a professor extraordinarius at the University of Giessen on May 26, 1824, at the age of 21 and with Humboldt’s recommendation.
The appointment of Liebig was part of an effort to modernize and recruit more students to the University of Giessen. Without laboratory funds or access to facilities, he was provided only a tiny stipend.
The presence of existing faculty complicated his situation: Professor Wilhelm Zimmermann (1780–1825) of the philosophy faculty taught general chemistry, while Professor Philipp Vogt of the medical faculty taught medical chemistry and pharmacy.
Vogt was pleased to support a restructure in which Liebig would teach pharmacy, and the subject would fall under the purview of the faculty of arts rather than medicine.
Zimmermann was unsuccessful in competing with Liebig for students and their teaching fees. He refused Liebig to use preexisting space and resources, and on July 19, 1825, he committed suicide.
Liebig was able to apply for a full professorship due to the deaths of Zimmermann and a professor who taught technology and mining. On December 7, 1825, Liebig was appointed to the Ordentlicher chair in chemistry, with a significantly enhanced salary and laboratory allowance.
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