Karl or Philipp Carl Sprengel (March 29, 1787 – April 19, 1859) was a German

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

from Schillerslage (now part of Burgdorf, Hanover). Sprengel worked under Albrecht Thaer (1752–1828) in Celle. He then worked from 1804 to 1808 with Heinrich Einhof (1778–1808) in Möglin on

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

studies. He travelled the world between 1810 and 1820, exploring agricultural ideas in Asia, Americas and Mesopotamia. Between 1821 and 1828, he studied natural sciences in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, where he eventually became professor. In the early 1830s, he moved to Regenwalde (Resko), where he accepted position of the Chairman of the ''Pomorskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne'' (Pomeranian Economic Society), which he held for the rest of his life. Having his financial needs satisfied, finally he could fulfil his dream and establish ''Regenwalde Akademie der Landwirtschaft'' (Academy of Agriculture in Resko), where he taught, studied and lived until his death in 1859. Influenced by (one of the students at ''Regenwalde Akademie der Landwirtschaft'') Felicjan Sypniewski theories, Sprengel was the first to formulate the "theory of minimum" in

agricultural chemistry Agricultural chemistry is the chemistry, especially organic chemistry and biochemistry, as they relate to agriculture. Agricultural chemistry embraces the structures and chemical reactions relevant in the production, protection, and use of Crop, ...

, meaning that plant growth is limited by the essential

nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...

at the lowest concentration. This rule, often incorrectly attributed to Justus von Liebig as Liebig's law of the minimum, was instead only popularised later as a scientific concept by Liebig.

Works

* 1839: ''Die Lehre vom Dünger oder Beschreibung aller bei der Landwirthschaft gebräuchlicher vegetablilischer, animalischer und mineralischer Düngermaterialien, nebst Erklärung ihrer Wirkungsart'', Leipzig * 1844
Die Bodenkunde oder die Lehre von Boden, nebst einer volständigen Anleitung zur chemischen Analyse der Ackererden
via

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References

1787 births 1859 deaths People from Hanover Region 19th-century German botanists German agronomists People from the Electorate of Hanover University of Göttingen alumni Academic staff of the University of Göttingen 19th-century agronomists {{Germany-botanist-stub