Justus von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 18 April 1873) was a German
chemist who made major contributions to
agricultural and
biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of
organic chemistry. As a
professor, he devised the modern
laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the greatest chemistry teachers of all time. He is known as the "father of the
fertilizer industry" for his discovery of
nitrogen as an essential
plant nutrient, and his formulation of the
Law of the Minimum which described the effect of individual nutrients on crops. He also developed a manufacturing process for
beef extracts, and founded a company,
Liebig Extract of Meat Company, that later
trademarked the
Oxo brand beef
bouillon cube.
Liebig was born in Darmstadt into a middle class family. From childhood he was fascinated by chemistry. He was apprenticed to the apothecary Gottfried Pirsch (1792-1870) in Heppenheim.
Liebig attended the University of Bonn, studying under Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner, a business associate of his father. When Kastner moved to the University of Erlangen, Liebig followed him and later took his doctorate from Erlangen. Liebig did not receive the doctorate until well after he had left Erlangen, and the circumstances are clouded by a possible scandal [see Munday (1990)]. Also at Erlangen, Liebig fell in love with the poet August von Platen-Hallermünde (1796-1835)[1] who wrote several sonnets dedicated to Liebig. He left Erlangen in March 1822, in part because of his involvement with the radical Korps Rhenania (a nationalist student organization) but also because of his hopes for more advanced chemical studies.
In autumn 1822 Liebig went to study in Paris on a grant obtained for him by Kastner from the Hessian government. He worked in the private laboratory of Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, and was also befriended by Alexander von Humboldt and Georges Cuvier (1769-1832).
