Jean-Baptiste Joseph Dieudonne Bussengo ( Fr. Jean Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné Boussingault ; February 2, 1802 , Paris - May 11, 1887 , Paris ) - French chemist ; agrochemist , one of the founders of agrochemistry . Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (since 1839) [1] .
| Jean Baptiste Bussengo | |
|---|---|
| Jean Baptiste Boussingault | |
 | |
| Birth name | |
| Date of Birth | February 2, 1802 |
| Place of Birth | Paris , France |
| Date of death | May 11, 1887 (85 years) |
| Place of death | Paris , France |
| A country |  France |
| Scientific field | chemistry , agronomy , geology , meteorology |
| Place of work | |
| Alma mater | Saint-Etienne Mountain School |
| Famous students | K.A. Timiryazev , A.Münz |
| Known as | founder of agrochemistry |
| Awards and prizes | Copley Medal  |
Biography
Born in Paris . His father was a retired soldier who owned a tobacco shop, his mother the daughter of a burgomaster Wetzlar . The family could not afford to give his son a lyceum education, and Boussingault self-educated, attending public lectures of the College de France and the National Museum of Natural History. In 1818 he entered the Saint-Étienne Mountain School (now the Higher National Mountain School ). At School, he made acquaintance with B. Fourneron . Dean of the Mining School L. A. Bonier impressed with the student’s abilities, he soon began to entrust him with conducting experiments, and the young Boussingo proved that the steel contains silicon . In 1820, after a year and a half of study, he received an honors degree.
In 1822, on the instructions of the English Mining Society, with the recommendation of A. Humboldt, he left for South America , where for several years [2] he studied meteorology and geological features of the Andes , traveling in Venezuela , Colombia , Peru , Chile , Ecuador [3] [4] [5] [6] in the army of General Simon Bolivar . Boussingo served as a mining engineer, but, for lack of appropriate positions in the state of Bolivar, the scientist received the rank of officer and rose to the rank of colonel.
Among other studies, during this period, J. B. Bussengo studied earthquakes , tropical rains, deposits of Chilean nitrate , determined the composition of gases in the craters of volcanoes , was the first European to climb the highest (of the conquered at that time [7] ) peak - extinct Chimborazo volcano ( Ecuador , 6267 m). Supervised gold mining for an English company.
Upon returning to France in 1839, Boussingault is elected to the Academy of Sciences , then becomes a professor of chemistry in Lyon (later holds the position of dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences [8] Lyon Academy ), Then - at the Versailles Agrochemical Institute. In 1841, having received the position of professor at the specially created department of agriculture and the department of analytical chemistry at the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts , he moved to Paris . Bussengo spent his research work in a laboratory in Bechelbronn (this estate in Alsace , now called Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, was obtained by marrying Elzask).
In 1848, J. B. Boussingo was elected to the National Assembly from the Lower Rhine Department , where he spoke from republican positions. Three years later, he was dismissed from his post as a professor for political convictions, but under the pressure of the indignant scientific world (Boussingo’s colleagues threatened to quit full staff) he was reinstated. In 1849-1851 Boussingo is a member of the Council of State , but with the advent of the Second Empire, he departs from politics.
Boussingo was successively elevated to the rank of cavalier to officer (great commander) (1876) of the Legion of Honor . In 1878 he received [9] the Copley Medal (the highest award of the Royal Society ).
Collaborators and students
In 1870, KA Timiryazev worked for Jean Boussingo in France, seconded by Petersburg University to prepare for professorship. Although Timiryazev trained in the laboratories of many European scientists, in his own opinion, the work of Boussingo, whom Timiriazev considered his teacher, [10] and whose memory he dedicated to his work “Agriculture and Plant Physiology”, was of the greatest importance.
In collaboration with his namesake, J. B. Dumas Boussingault wrote his main work, Essai de statique chimique des êtres organisés.
Scientific Works
The early years J.-B. Bussengo wrote numerous memoirs on geological and meteorological topics based on materials collected during his stay in South America . Articles caused positive reviews.
Since 1836, Boussingo devoted himself primarily to agrochemistry and plant physiology , sometimes referring to the study of the distribution of chemical elements in rocks ( petrochemistry ).
Boussingo's works in the field of agrochemistry promoted the young science so much that the scientist is considered one of its founders [11] , as well as one of the founders of the scientific plant growing [12] . The works of Bussengo also had a significant influence on soil science [13] .
The experimental agricultural station Pehelbronn [14] created by J. B. Bussengo in 1835 [14] is the first in Western Europe [15] . In research, Bussengo used an accurate chemical analysis of the composition of the soil and organic products.
Among the scientific achievements of J. B. B. Boussingo are:
- introduction to science of the circulation of substances and its study (with Liebig ) [16] ;
- evidence of nitrogen not only in animals, as previously thought, but also in plants;
- the hypothesis that plants need nitrogen from the soil , and its experimental verification. Experimentally, Bussengo refuted Liebig ’s idea that plants fix nitrogen with leaves from the air (from ammonia ) and proved the necessity for most plants to apply nitrogen fertilizers (manure, guano) to the soil. In 1840, showed that plants get nitrogen from soil nitrates, also studied the effect of phosphates ;
- discovery of nitrogen fixation of leguminous plants (with G. Helrigel ). In the 1830s [17] Boussingault discovered that legumes not only do not deplete the soil nitrogen, but also enrich it with nitrogen. However, he mistakenly believed that leguminous plants, for some reason, are able to capture the molecular nitrogen of the atmosphere [18] . In fact, legumes receive nitrogen by symbiotic nitrogen fixation due to nodule bacteria , which was shown by M. S. Voronin in 1866 and confirmed by G. Helgegel;
- conducting experiments with feeding animals with various products, which showed that nitrogen-rich feeds give the best results;
- the development of a vegetative method of studying plants, which consists in growing plants in vessels placed in vegetation houses. This method does not lose relevance until now;
- confirmation (1878) of the possibility of foliar nutrition of plants, declared earlier by the scientist Humphry Davy ;
- study of photosynthesis . In 1840, he showed that plants produce carbon from carbon dioxide in the air , confirming the experiments of N. T. de Saussure [19] ;
- study of the composition of the steel and the development of the first chromium steel;
- studying the exact composition of the air ;
- study of the nutritional value of certain products [20] ;
- study of the chemical composition of natural asphalt [21] ;
- arsenic detection work;
- and other results.
Memory
Name Bussengo called:
- moon crater ;
- mineral bussingotit; [22]
- bussangoltia flower;
- streets in Paris , Strasbourg
In 1895, the sculptor E.-J. Dahl dedicated Boussingo to a bronze composition symbolizing Science in the service of Agriculture . Monument erected in Paris.
Bibliography
The main works of J. B. Boussingo:
- Essai de statique chimique des êtres organisés, tt. 1-2, 1843-44 (in Russian translation. - Selected Works on Plant Physiology and Agrochemistry, 2 ed., M., 1957)
- Traite d'économie rurale, 1844
- Agronomie, chimie agricole, et physiologie (5 tomes, 1860–1874; 2ème réd., 1884)
- Via jes científicos a los Andes ecuatoriales: ó Coleccion de memorias sobre física, química historia natural de la Nueva Granada, Ecuador y Venezuela, 1849.
- Études sur la transformation du fer en acier par la cémentation, 1875.
Notes
- ↑ Lubnina I., E. Bussengo // Great Russian Encyclopedia
- ↑ Different sources give different number of years and different countries, see below.
- “He worked for ten years as a mining engineer in Venezuela” - op. by J. Clark, An Illustrated Chronicle of Discoveries and Inventions from Ancient Times to the Present. - M .: AST ( ISBN 5-17-012310-8 ): Astrel ( ISBN 5-271-03897-1 ), 2002., p. 747
- ↑ "French engineer-geologist Boussingault (1825–1829) studies the peculiarities of Venezuela, Colombia and Peru" - op. on World History in Dates and Events (“Larus”). - M .: "Rainbow", 2002., p. 320
- ↑ “Frenchman J. Boussingault (1822–1828) worked in the Northern and Equatorial Andes) - op. under the article "South America", TSB .
- ↑ "In South America, Boussingo studied the deposits of Chilean nitrate" - cit. on Children's Encyclopedia 1967, p. 371
- ↑ McCosh 1984.
- ↑ Almanach de l'université royale , 1836, p. 78
- Королев Royal Society website
- ↑ A curious fact: Boussingo refused to request Timiryazev to be allowed to work in his laboratory, but right at the lectures Boussingo and his assistants conducted complex experiments and processed the results. Thus, students attending Boussingault’s lectures joined the real research work.
- ↑ See Modern Dictionary of Explanation 1997, TSB 1977
- ↑ TSB 1977: “The works of the French scientist J. Boussingault et al., Who developed the theoretical foundations of plant nutrition, were of great importance for the scientific foundations of R.”
- “This period preceded directly the formation of soil science as a science. The most famous in this period were the works of the founders of agrochemistry M. E. Volney , A. D. Teer , G. Devi , M. G. Pavlova , J. Berzelius , Y. Liebig , J. B. Bussengo, who formulated the basic principles of agricultural chemistry. - cit. by: Soil Science (ed. V. A. Kovdy, B. G. Rozanov), Part 1, Moscow: Higher School , 1988, p. 29.
- ↑ In a number of sources, the station is called “Behelbronn”, but in reality the station was called Pechelbronn and was located in the territory of the present settlement Merkviller-Peshelbron .
- ↑ Almost at the same time, one experienced agricultural station was founded in Great Britain by J. B. Loos, see TSB 1977.
- ↑ Biological encyclopedic dictionary ed. M. S. Gilyarova . - M .: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986. - p. 66
- ↑ The books of Petryanov-Sokolov 1983 (output data see below), p. 102, and Clark 2002 (output data see above) are given different dates: 1838 and 1834, respectively.
- ↑ Petryanov-Sokolov (ed.), Popular Library of Chemical Elements , Book 1. M .: "Science", 1983, p. 102
- ↑ Polevoj V.V., Plant Physiology, M: “Higher School”, 1989 ISBN 5-06-001604-8 , p. 60
- ↑ Clark 2002
- ↑ Bussengo, Jean-Baptist-Joseph-Diedone // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 add.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ Geological dictionary under total. ed. A. N. Krishtofovich . M .: 1955, v.1, p. 105
Literature
- Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [30 tons] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
- Bussengo, Jean-Baptist-Joseph-Diedone // Encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Bussengo, Jean Baptiste // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : in 66 t. (65 t. And 1 extra.) / Ch. ed. O. Yu. Schmidt . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1926-1947.
- Genkel P. A. “Jean Baptiste Bussengo” // Children's encyclopedia in 12 volumes, Vol. 6 // Art. ed. M. R. Peterson, ed. Enlightenment , 1967. - p. 371
- also used materials from the French , English and German pages of Wikipedia.
More
- Boussingault, JB Mémoires de J.-B. Boussingault. París: Chamerot et Renouard, 1892-1903.
- McCosh, FWJ Boussingault: Chemist and Agriculturist. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1984. - ISBN 90-277-1682-X .
- Timiryazev K.A. Jean Baptiste Bussengo, Sobr. cit., T. 2. - M., 1948.