JUSTUS VON LIEBIG: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS - CHEMISTRY - 2024

Justus von Liebig (Darmstadt, May 12, 1803-Munich, April 18, 1873) was a German chemist recognized as one of the most important of the 19th century. He is also noted as a pioneer of organic chemistry, as his studies revolutionized the foundations of this science.

It has also been attributed as part of his legacy, the improvement of fertilizer compounds for agriculture, as well as the improvement of scientific education in Europe.

Justus von Liebig, 1850

Its ability to develop better laboratory equipment has also been historically prominent, as this has enabled chemical analysis to be facilitated to this day.

Biography

Early Years: The Origin of Your Profession

His mother was Maria Caroline Moeser and his father Johann George Liebig, who worked in a drugstore with a small laboratory. This business was in charge of awakening her interest in chemistry.

As a child, Justus von Liebig helped in his father's shop. He was mainly engaged in experimenting with chemical preparations offered in scientific books, which he borrowed from the Darmstadt Library.

At age 16, Liebig became an apprentice to the apothecary Gottfried Pirsch in Heppenheim, but due to an unauthorized explosion, he was unable to pursue this pharmaceutical career.

This was not an impediment for him to be able to persuade his father to continue his work, only this time, completely dedicated to chemistry.

For this reason, he began his studies at the University of Bonn as an assistant to Karl Wilhelm Kastner, a business associate of his father. It was during this time that he quickly recognized the lack of adequate equipment for chemical laboratories.

Liebig continued under Kastner's tutelage until the University of Erlangen in Bavaria, where he received his doctorate in 1822.

Your job: Dedication to study and teaching

Thanks to his ingenuity and responsibility, he obtained a scholarship from the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt to study in Paris. It was in those years that he developed the skills that were essential to highlight his professional career. Among them, having attended different classes taught by characters such as Pierre-Louis Dulong and Joseph Gay-Lussac.

At this time he focused on investigating in depth the dangers of silver fulminate, a derivative of fulminic acid. Just then, the chemist Friedrich Wöhler was studying cyanic acid, and they both agreed that these acids were two different compounds with the same composition.

As a result of this finding, they both built an unbreakable friendship that turned into a work collaboration capable of improving their profession.

In 1824, at just 21 years old, Liebig became a respected Professor of Chemistry at the University of Giessen, thanks to the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt. He adopted a philosophy that influenced many of his students in the long run.

He took advantage of this talent to focus together with his apprentices, in analyzing organic compounds and laying the foundations of what today is organic chemistry.

Last years

In 1845, Liebig received the title of baron from the Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt. He dedicated himself to being a teacher at Giessen for 28 years, until in 1852 he decided to retire, arguing that he felt very exhausted from teaching.

In that year he moved to the University of Munich, and focused primarily on reading and writing for his career.

It was there that he spent the rest of his life until his death on April 18, 1873, although not with the same popularity that he had in his early years. Even so, his legacy remains intact, and even the University of Giessen changed its name to Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen in his honor.

Contributions

To education and organic chemistry

Liebig managed to make chemistry education independent in the European educational systems, since at the time, this subject was only an adjunct topic for pharmacists and physicists, but no one studied it as a career.

In this way, it was possible to expand the methodology of lessons in laboratories, in addition to the more detailed analysis of compounds in organic chemistry.

Thanks to Liebig's charisma and technical talent, chemistry went from being an inaccurate science based on personal opinions, to an important field that to this day is considered elementary for scientific advances in society.

The key to his success was essentially based on the experiments he carried out in laboratories. Among them, being able to burn organic compounds with copper oxide to identify the oxidation of some products just by weighing them.

With this procedure, chemical oxidation analysis was facilitated, allowing up to 7 analyzes per day to be carried out, and not one per week as was done then.

Kaliapparat

Liebig was the inventor of an iconic device not only in the 1830s, but in the history of science: the Kaliapparat. It consists of a five-bulb system designed to analyze the amount of carbon in organic compounds, and until now it is still considered effective to carry out these processes.

Agriculture and nutrition

Liebig was one of the pioneers in the study of photosynthesis. He discovered that plants fed on nitrogen and carbon dioxide compounds, as well as minerals in the soil, thus he managed to disprove the theory of "humus" in plant nutrition.

This theory ensured that plants only fed on compounds similar to them.

One of his most outstanding achievements for agriculture was the invention of a fertilizer that was made with nitrogen, which improved the performance of plants in the fields.

Although initially unsuccessful, over time the formula was improved to test the efficacy of the product, and this was an important step to replace chemical fertilizers with natural ones.

Liebig also showed constant interest in the chemistry of foods, especially meats. His studies focused on improving the way meat is cooked, in order to preserve all its nutrients.

He also managed to improve the commercial compounds for infant formula milk, and even improved the formula for preparing whole wheat bread.

References

1. Authors, Various. (2014). Justus von Liebig. Retrieved from New World Encyclopedia: newworldencyclopedia.org
2. Brock, W. (1997). Justus Von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
3. Brock, W. (1998). Justus, baron von Liebig. Retrieved from Encyclopedia Britannica: britannica.com
4. Heitmann, JA (1989). Justus von Liebig. University of Dayton: History Faculty Publications.
5. Ronald, K. (1992). Early Roots of the Organic Movement: A Plant Nutrition Perspective. Hort Technology, 263-265.