Martinus Beijerinck
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2008-06-12T01:57:31Z
Ryan Delaney
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/68.192.95.204|68.192.95.204]] (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
{{for|the lunar crater|Beijerinck (crater)}}
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{{Infobox Scientist
|name = Martinus Beijerinck
|box_width =
|image = Martinus Willem Beijerinck 1.jpg
|image_width = 150 px
|caption =
|birth_date = March 16, 1851
|birth_place = [[Amsterdam, Holland]]
|death_date = January 1, 1931
|death_place = [[Gorssel, Holland]]
|residence =
|citizenship =
|nationality =
|ethnicity =
|field = [[Microbiology]]
|work_institutions = [[Wageningen University]]<br/>[[Delft School of Microbiology]] (founder)
|alma_mater = [[Leiden University]]
|doctoral_advisor =
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = [[Nitrogen cycle]]</br>[[Chemotroph|Chemoautotrophy]]</br>[[Virology]]<br/>[[Sulfate-reducing bacteria]]<br/>[[Microbiological culture|Bacterial cultivation]]
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
|influenced = [[Sergei Winogradsky]]
|prizes = [[Leeuwenhoek Medal]] (1905)
|religion =
|footnotes =
}}
'''Martinus Willem Beijerinck''' ([[March 16]], [[1851]] - [[January 1]], [[1931]]) was a [[Netherlands|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 [[virus]]es 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lerner |first=K.L. |coauthors=B.M. Lerner |editor= |title=Martinus Willem Beijerinck from World of Microbiology and Immunology |edition= |year=2002 |publisher=Thomas Gage Publishing |location=Florence, KY |isbn=0787665401 |pages= |quote=<small>Beijerinck asserted that the virus was liquid, but this theory was later disproved by Wendell Stanley, who demonstrated the particulate nature of viruses. Beijerinck, nevertheless, set the stage for twentieth-century virologists to uncover the secrets of viral pathogens now known to cause a wide range of plant and animal (including human) diseases</small>}}</ref>
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 ([[legume]]s). 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-reducing bacteria|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|Spirillum desulfuricans]]'', the first known sulfate-reducing bacterium, was isolated and described by Beijerinck.
Beijerinck invented the [[Microbiological culture|enrichment culture]], a fundamental method of studying [[microbe]]s 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.
==See also==
* [[Sergei Winogradsky]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
* Chung, King-Thom and Ferris, Deam Hunter (1996). Martinus Willem Beijerinck (1851-1931): pioneer of general microbiology. AMS News 62, 539-543. [http://www.asm.org/ASM/files/CCLIBRARYFILES/FILENAME/0000000251/621096p539.pdf PDF]
==External links==
*[http://www.beijerinck.bt.tudelft.nl Beijerinck and the Delft School of Microbiology]
*[http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/nestsite2/webunit10.html Viruses and the Prokaryotic World]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beijerinck, Martinus}}
[[Category:Dutch biologists]]
[[Category:Dutch botanists]]
[[Category:Phytopathologists]]
[[Category:Dutch microbiologists]]
[[Category:Environmental microbiology]]
[[Category:Nitrogen metabolism]]
[[Category:Delft University of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:1851 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Amsterdam]]
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