Everything about Martinus Beijerinck totally explained
Martinus Willem Beijerinck (
March 16,
1851 -
January 1,
1931) was a
Dutch microbiologist and
botanist. He was born in
Amsterdam.
Beijerinck studied at
Leiden University and became a teacher in microbiology at the Agricultural School in Wageningen (now
Wageningen University and later at the
Polytechnische Hogeschool Delft (
Delft Polytechnic, currently
Delft University of Technology) (from
1895). He established the
Delft School of Microbiology. His studies of agricultural microbiology and industrial microbiology yielded fundamental discoveries in the field of
biology. His achievements have been perhaps unfairly overshadowed by those of his contemporaries
Robert Koch and
Louis Pasteur, because unlike them, Beijerinck never studied human disease.
He is considered the founder of
virology. He discovered
viruses in 1898 by proving in filtration experiments that the
tobacco mosaic disease is caused by something smaller than a
bacterium. He named that new
pathogen virus. (
Dimitri Ivanovski discovered viruses in 1892, but failed to report his findings.) Beijerinck maintained that viruses were liquid in nature, a theory later discredited by
Wendell Stanley, who proved they were particulate.
Beijerinck also discovered
nitrogen fixation, the process by which diatomic
nitrogen gas is converted to
ammonium and becomes available to plants. Bacteria perform nitrogen fixation, dwelling inside
root nodules of certain plants (
legumes). In addition to having discovered a biochemial reaction vital to
soil fertility and
agriculture, Beijerinck revealed this archetypical example of
symbiosis between
plants and
bacteria.
Beijerinck discovered the phenomenon of bacterial
sulfate reduction, a form of
anaerobic respiration. He learned that bacteria could use sulfate as a terminal electron acceptor, instead of oxygen. This discovery has had an important impact on our current understanding of
biogeochemical cycles.
Spirillum desulfuricans, the first known sulfate-reducing bacterium, was isolated and described by Beijerinck.
Beijerinck invented the
enrichment culture, a fundamental method of studying
microbes from the environment. He is often credited with framing the microbial ecology idea that "everything is everywhere, the environment decides."
Beijerinck was a socially awkward figure. He was verbally abusive to students, never married, and had few professional collaborations. He was also known for his
ascetic lifestyle and his view of science and
marriage being incompatible. His low popularity with his students periodically depressed him, as he very much loved spreading his enthusiasm for biology in the classroom.
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