Julius Adolph Stöckhardt (4 January 1809 – 1 June 1886) was a German agricultural chemist. He is mostly recognized for his work on fertilizers, fume damage of plants and his book ''Die Schule der Chemie'' (''School of Chemistry''), which was translated into 14 languages. His 500 lectures and over 500 publications helped to establish agricultural chemistry in Germany.

Life

Stöckhardt was born in Röhrsdorf near

Meißen Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...

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 The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, and obtained his Ph.D. from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

in 1837. He worked at a mineral water factory from 1835 till he received a position at the Königlichen Gewerbeschule in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

(Royal Saxon Industrial School) in 1838. In 1846 he became a member of Dresden's scientific society ISIS, led by

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate m ...

. From 1847 to 1883, Stöckhardt worked at the Königliche Forstakademie (

Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry The Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry (German: ''Königliche-Sächsische Forstakademie'') in Tharandt, Saxony, near Dresden, was founded by silviculturist Heinrich Cotta in 1811. Established in conjunction with the school, and later integrated wit ...

) in

Tharandt Tharandt () is a municipality in Saxony, Germany, situated on the Weißeritz, southwest of Dresden. It has a Protestant Church and the oldest academy of forestry in Germany, founded as the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry by Heinrich Cotta in 181 ...

, where a building was named after him. In 1866, he was elected Fellow of the Leopoldina. He died in Tharandt on 1 June 1886 three years after he retired from the Forstakademie. One of his sons, Carl Georg Stöckhardt, emigrated to the United States and taught

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

at the

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

of the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

.Christian Cyclopedia

Work

After the book of

Justus von Liebig Justus ''Freiherr'' von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 18 April 1873) was a Germans, German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biology, biological chemistry; he is ...

, ''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). One year later, Germany's first large

agricultural experiment station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with ...

opened in Leipzig-Möckern, initiated by Stöckhardt. 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. His 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 Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

, 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

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Publications

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stockhardt, Julius Adolph 1809 births 1886 deaths People from Klipphausen Scientists from the Kingdom of Saxony Members of the Second Chamber of the Diet of the Kingdom of Saxony 19th-century German chemists Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry