Joseph Henry Gilbert

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Joseph Henry Gilbert
Born1 August 1817
Hull
Died23 December 1901 (1901-12-24) (aged 84)
NationalityEnglish
AwardsRoyal Medal (1867)
Scientific career
Fieldschemistry

Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert FRS (1 August 1817 – 23 December 1901) was an English chemist, noteworthy for his long career spent improving the methods of practical agriculture. Along with J.B. Lawes, he conducted experiments at Rothamstead for forty years. One of the key findings of Lawes and Gilbert was that cereal crops took up nitrogen from the soil, contrary to the ideas of Justus von Liebig who held that it was obtained only from the air. Their work made Rothamstead a leading centre of agricultural research. Gilbert became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1860.[1]

Life

Gilbert was born at

calico dyeing and printing near Manchester, accepted the directorship of the chemical laboratory at the agricultural experiment station established by John Bennet Lawes at Rothamsted, near St. Albans.[3]

Lawes and Gilbert

Thomson recommended Gilbert to Lawes who wished to conduct studies on his estate in Rothamstead. Gilbert moved there in June 1843 and worked there until his death on 23 December 1901. Although much of the work went under both their names, the chemist who conducted most of the meticulous studies was Gilbert. The work which he carried out in collaboration with Lawes involved the application of chemistry, meteorology, botany, animal and vegetable physiology, and geology to the methods of practical agriculture.[3]

Gilbert was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1860, and in 1867 was awarded a

jubilee
of the Rothamsted experiments was celebrated.

Personal life

Gilbert married Eliza Forbes Laurie in 1850 and after her death just two years later, he married Maria Smith in 1855. He had no children from either marriage.[3]

References

  1. doi:10.1039/CT9028100625
    .
  2. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33399. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ^
    doi:10.1093/jn/90.1.1
    .
  4. ^ "GILBERT, Sir (Joseph) Henry". Who's who biographies, 1901. 1901. p. 467.
  5. ^ "No. 26433". The London Gazette. 18 August 1893. p. 4705.

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