Julius Adolph Stöckhardt

Infobox_Scientist
name = Julius Adolph Stöckhardt


image_width =
caption = Julius Adolph Stöckhardt
birth_date = birth date|1809|1|4|df=y
birth_place = Röhrsdorf near Meißen, Germany
residence =
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death_date = death date and age|1886|6|1|1809|1|4|df=y
death_place = Tharandt, Germany
field =
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alma_mater = University of Leipzig
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students = Hermann Hellriegel, Julius Sachs
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Julius Adolph Stöckhardt (4 January 1809 – 1 June 1886) was a German agricultural chemist. He is mostly recognized for his work on furtilizers, fume damage of plants and his book "Die Schule der Chemie" ("School of Chemistry"), which was translated into 14 languages.

Life

Stöckhardt was born in Röhrsdorf near Meißen on 4 January 1809 as son of a preacher. He was apprentice in a pharmacy from 1824 to 1828, studied at the University of Berlin, and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig in 1837.

He worked at a mineral water factory from 1835 till he received a position at the Königlichen Gewerbeschule in Chemnitz (Royal Saxon Industrial School). His 500 lectures and over 500 publications helped to establish agricultural chemistry in Germany.

From 1847 to 1883, Stöckhardt worked at the Königliche Forstakademie (Royal Academy of Forestry) in Tharandt.

He died in Tharandt on 1 June 1886 three years after he retired from the Forstakademie.cite journal
title = Julius Adolph Stöckhardt – a pioneer of applied chemistry
author = O. Wienhaus
journal = Fresenius J Anal Chem
volume = 363
issue = 2
pages = 139–144
year = 1999
url =
doi = 10.1007/s002160051161]

Work

After the book of Justus von Liebig, "Organic Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture and Physiology" was published in 1840, Stöckhardt recognized the importance of fertilization for farmers and invested most of his time in popularizing scientific knowledge. In 1843 he started to give chemical lectures for farmers. In 1850 he and Hugo Schober started to publish the "Zeitschrift für deutsche Landwirthe" (Journal for German farmers).

His research on fertilizers was influenced by the work of Liebig, but Stöckhardt included nitrogen compounds into his fertilizers. Liebig denied the need to include nitrogen because it was available as gas from air. This conflict escalated into an academic fight between him and the "nitrogen advocates" which also ended the friendship between Stöckhardt and Liebig. Eventually, nitrogen containing fertilizers became a great success.

Hi research in fume damage on plants especially by industrial exhaust was ground breaking. He fumigated plants with known amount of several chemical compounds, for example sulfur dioxide, to detect the minimal concentration at which damages occurs. A "Commission for the detection of the damage caused by smelters" was introduced and the state parliament of Saxony also dealt with damage caused by smelters after his results were published.

=References=
*cite web
url =http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/chemie/stoeck/bio.php
title = Wer war eigentlich Julius Adolph Stöckhardt?
publisher = Technical University of Chemnitz

Publications

*cite book
url = http://books.google.de/books?hl=de&id=XPw4AAAAMAAJ
title = Die Schule der Chemie
author = Julius Adolph Stöckhardt
publisher = Friedrich Bieweg und Sohn
year = 1846-1920
edition 1-22

Persondata
NAME= Stöckhardt, Julius Adolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Chemist
DATE OF BIRTH= birth date|1809|1|4|df=y
PLACE OF BIRTH= Röhrsdorf, Germany
DATE OF DEATH= death date|1886|6|1|df=y
PLACE OF DEATH= Tharandt, Germany