Hermann Hellriegel | |
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| Born | (1831-10-21)October 21, 1831 |
| Died | September 24, 1895(1895-09-24) (aged 63) Bernburg, Anhalt, German Empire |
Hermann Hellriegel (October 21, 1831 – September 24, 1895)[1] was a Germanagricultural chemist who discovered thatleguminous plants assimilate the freenitrogen of the atmosphere.
He was born at Mausitz (now part ofZwenkau), in theKingdom of Saxony. In 1857 he became director of theagricultural experiment station ofBrandenburg andNiederlausitz atDahme, from which he resigned in 1873, and in 1882 accepted a similar post atBernburg, where he died. From 1873 to 1882, he wasWanderlehrer (circuit riding teacher) at Bernburg.
Among his many agricultural investigations with plants, the most important by far are his demonstration of the ability of leguminous plants to assimilate the free nitrogen of the air, and his discovery of the tubercles on the roots as the agency through which this takes place. The question of the ability of leguminous plants to use the nitrogen of the air had long been one of inquiry, and its settlement by him marked an epoch in the agricultural world. The important parts of these experiments he published inUntersuchungen über die Stickstoffnahrung der Gramineen und Leguminosen (Investigations into the Nitrogen assimilation of theGramineae andLeguminosae; Berlin, 1888), andUeber Stickstoffnahrung landwirtschaftlicher Kulturgewächse (On Nitrogen assimilation in agricultural crops; Vienna, 1890).
Hellriegel and Wilfarth (1887) "grew plants in calcined soil as others had done, but to some of the pots they added leachings from a fertile soil, in other words, an inoculum containingbacteria of the proper species and variety. They found that peas growing in inoculated soils produced root nodules, and after an initial period of nitrogen deficiency, turned green and made thrifty growth. On the contrary, peas in a similar soil without an inoculum were unthrifty and perished prematurely."[2]
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