LIEBIG, JUSTUS VON

(b. Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, 12 May 1803; d. Munich, Germany, 18 April 1873),

chemistry. For the original article on Liebig see DSB, vol. 8.

Liebig’s life encompassed innovation in teaching, important contributions to organic chemistry and, above all, the significant application of chemistry to agriculture, physiology, medicine, nutrition, and industry, as well as to the popularization of chemistry. He has attracted considerable attention since Frederic L. Holmes’s fine article was published in 1973. Historical interest has been concentrated on the publication of critical editions of Liebig’s extensive correspondence with other chemists and pharmacists, his publishers, and the chancellor of the University of Giessen; the development of a deeper understanding of his role in organic chemistry, especially through his improvement of analytical techniques and the use of chemical formulas; the enrichment of knowledge concerning Liebig’s methods for training chemists and the influence of the Giessen school on the international development of laboratories and research schools; the investigation of the worldwide impact of the publication of his writings on agricultural and physiological chemistry; and the role of his Chemische Briefe in the popularization of chemistry. While Jakob Volhard’s two-volume German biography of Liebig (1909) remains the essential introduction, there is now a substantial English and German biography by William H. Brock (1997) that examines the controversial nature of Liebig’s opinions and character, portraying him as a gatekeeper who helped to transform public and governmental awareness of chemistry and its essential role in a modern society.

Liebig became a world celebrity during his lifetime and was one of the most significant nineteenth-century scientists in shaping an international vision of science. For Liebig, science was a body of knowledge that ignored and transcended national boundaries. What could be said of German or British agriculture applied equally to that in Italy, America, or Japan. He wanted to universalize the localized nature of knowledge and practice and did this by forging educational tools, the exchange of information and research, and the popularization of chemical knowledge. One vital aspect of his determination to communicate the central significance of chemistry was his use of Roman instead of Gothic (Fraktur) type in his monthly periodical Annalen der Chemie and in the German editions of his books, knowing that this typography made it easier for foreign readers (for whom Fraktur was as unintelligible as Greek or Cyrillic print). Translation of his work was another important means of communication, and he did everything possible to encourage it. For example, Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie (1840) appeared in at least nineteen editions in about nine different languages. Such internationalism reached its long-term fulfillment in the twentieth century when Liebigs Annalen der Chemie was amalgamated into the European Journal of Organic Chemistry in 1998.

Liebig’s fame was not so much that he made a startling new chemical discovery. It was largely due to his demonstration with Friedrich Wöhler that it was possible to use the paper tools of Berzelian chemical symbols to make sense of analytical results by inspecting and juggling with the compositions of reactants and products. As Ursula Klein (2003) has shown, the 1830s produced novel ways of individuating, identifying, and classifying organic compounds, chief of which was the exploitation of Jacob Berzelius’s chemical formulas and their manipulation on paper in an attempt to understand the composition of the dazzling parade of new derivatives that were totally

unknown in nature. Liebig, Wöhler, and Jean-Baptiste Dumas excelled at this practice and were considerably helped by the sophisticated method of organic analysis with the so-called Kaliapparat that Liebig developed in 1830 when attempting to understand the composition of plant alkaloids. Replication of these gravimetric experiments by Melvyn C. Usselman and others (2005) has shown historians how accurate Liebig’s results were for carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen content (though nitrogen content remained an acute problem). This development of a rapid and accurate method of gravimetric organic analysis using the Kaliapparat acted as a trigger for the explosion of organic (as opposed to inorganic) chemistry. These two techniques, paper chemistry and accurate compositional analysis, forged a new ontology of carbon chemistry, as opposed to the tradition of vegetable and animal chemistry, and enabled chemists to classify and interpret analyses in terms of common groups or radicals and, later, in terms of “chemical types.”

The “Giessen Model.” . However, Liebig’s contribution to the perfection of inorganic analysis and its dissemination must not be underestimated. Building upon the long historical tradition of tests for mineralogical composition, at Giessen he taught systematic methods of inorganic analysis, though he left it to pupils and assistants such as Carl Fresenius and Heinrich Will to publish these methods in the 1830s. These systematic group separation methods (wet qualitative and quantitative analysis) were taught to every student of practical chemistry into the 1950s.

The fame and celebrity status that Liebig sought as a young man came about through teaching these systematic methods of inorganic and organic analysis. Beginning with a majority of pharmacy students, he successfully attracted an international body of chemistry students to Giessen where, from 1835 until he left for Munich in 1852, he engaged in line-production research investigating the chemistry of living systems of plants and animals. Whether Giessen was the model for future research schools has been the subject of great historical interest since the publication of Jack Morrell’s heuristic model in 1972. Joseph S. Fruton (1990) has contrasted Liebig’s style of research leadership with other chemists and biochemists and has also provided a valuable list of the majority of the active researchers who studied with him at Giessen or Munich. Alan J. Rocke (2003) suggests that Liebig was able to establish something new and unique in chemical education by exploiting isomerism, the use of formulas to understand composition, and the Kaliapparat to ensure accurate quantitative compositions. This may explain why and how Liebig’s “Giessen model” spread rapidly far and wide. Liebig himself bombastically advertised the Giessen method in his polemic against the Prussian government in 1840. His letters to his publisher Friedrich Vieweg demonstrate his control of the monthly Annalen der Pharmacie and the ambitious nature of his own book publication program, as well as his ambition to publish German translations of important English cultural works by Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mill. Other letters to Justin von Linde, the Catholic chancellor of the University of Giessen, are revelatory in two respects. On the one hand, they demonstrate Liebig’s inexhaustible dedication to chemistry, and on the other, his determination to promote his university as a leading European institution of scientific learning. Finally, his correspondence with Georg von Cotta, the aristocratic owner of the Augsberger Allgemeinen Zeiting, reveals Liebig’s ambitions as a popular writer and his determination to promote chemistry as the central science for economic prosperity through his Chemische Briefe from 1844 onward.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carlo Paoloni, Justus von Liebig. Eine Bibliographie sämtlicher Veröffentlichungen (Heidelberg, Germany: Carl Winter, 1968), the standard bibliography cited by Holmes, is not entirely reliable. A good guide to the literature up to 1996 is found in William H. Brock, Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper (Cambridge, U.K. and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997; paperback, 2002); German translation Justus von Liebig: Eine Biographie des großen Wissenschaftlers und Europäers (Braunschweig and Wiesbaden, Germany: Vieweg, 1999). The following bibliography lists primary sources published since the 1973 entry, but, with some exceptions, only secondary works published since 1996.

WORKS BY LIEBIG

Animal Chemistry (New York, 1842). Edited by Frederic L. Holmes. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1964. Holmes’s introduction, pp. vii–cxvi. For a German translation of Holmes’s essay, see Büttner and Lewicki (2001), cited below, pp. 1–107.

Die Organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Physiologie und Pathologie (Braunschweig, 1842). Facsimile edition with appendix containing reprints of essays on the history of physiological chemistry, edited by Wilhelm Lewicki. Pinneberg, Germany: AgriMedia Verlag Alfred Strothe, 1992.

Die Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie, 9th posthumous edition by Philipp Zöller (1876), facsimile in 2 vols. Holm, Germany: Agrimedia, 1995. Issued with a supplementary volume, edited by Wilhelm Lewicki, containing reprints of essays on the history of agricultural chemistry.

Aus Justus Liebig’s und Friedrich Wöhler’s Briefwechsel in den Jahren 1829–1873. 2 vols. Edited by August Wilhelm Hofmann. Braunschweig, Germany: Friedrich Vieweg, 1888. Reprint edited by Wilhelm Lewicki. Göttingen, Germany: Jürgen Cromm, 1982. Hofmann’s edition is an uncritical and massively expurgated extracts of the whole correspondence. A complete critical edition of the surviving 1,700 letters is in production at the University of Regensburg, edited by Christoph Meinel and Thomas Steinhauser.

Berzelius und Liebig: Ihre Briefe von 1831–1845. Edited by Justus Carrière. Munich, Germany: J.F. Lehmann, 1893; 2nd ed., 1898. Reprint edited by Till Reschke. Göttingen, Germany: Jürgen Cromm, 1978.

Justus von Liebig “Hochwohlgeborner Freyherr”: Die Briefe an Georg von Cotta und die anonymen Beiträge zur Augsburger Allgemeinen Zeitung. Edited by Andreas Kleinert. Mannheim, Germany: Bionomica-Verlag, 1979.

Liebigs Experimentalvorlesung. Vorlesungsbuch und Kekulés Mitschrift. Edited by Otto Paul Krätz and Claus Priesner. Weinheim, Germany: Verlag Chemie, 1983. Facsimiles and transcriptions of Liebig’s Giessen lectures on organic chemistry, together with Kekulé’s student notes of 1848 and valuable commentaries.

Justus von Liebig und August Wilhelm Hofmann in ihren Briefen (1841–1873). Edited by William Hodson Brock. Weinheim, Germany: Verlag Chemie, 1984. With English abstracts; note supplement by Heuser and Zott below (1988).

Justus von Liebig. Briefe an Vieweg. Edited by Margarete Schneider and Wolfgang Schneider. Braunschweig and Wiesbaden, Germany: Vieweg & Sohn, 1986. Liebig’s letters to his publisher, 1823–1872.

The Letters from Gerrit Jan Mulder to Justus Liebig (1838–1846). Edited by Harry A. M. Snelders. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1986.

Justus Liebig und Julius Eugen Schlossberger in ihren Briefen von

1844–1860. Edited by Fritz Heße and Emil Heuser, eds. Mannheim, Germany: Bionomica-Verlag, 1988.

Justus von Liebig und August Wilhelm Hofmann in ihren Briefen, Nachträge 1845–1869; Justus von Liebig und Emil Erlenmeyer in ihren Briefen von 1861–1872. Edited by Emil Heuser and Regine Zott. Mannheim, Germany: Bionomica-Verlag, 1988. The Hofmann-Liebig letters supplement the edition by Brock.

Justus von Liebig und der Pharmazeut Friedrich Julius Otto in ihren Briefen von 1838–1840 und 1856–1867. Edited by Emil Heuser. Mannheim, Germany: Bionomica-Verlag, 1989.

Die Nachlässe von Martius, Liebig und den Brüdern Schlagintweit in der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek. Edited by Anne Büchler and Rolf Schumacher. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1990. Lists Liebig’s archives in Munich.

Universität und Ministerium im Vormärz: Justus Liebigs Briefwechsel mit Justin von Linde. Edited by Eva-Marie Felschow and Emil Heuser. Giessen, Germany: Verlag der Ferber’schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung Giessen, 1992.

Die streitbaren Gelehrten: Justus Liebig und die preußischen Universitäten. Edited by Regine Zott and Emil Heuser. Berlin: ERS-Verlag, 1992. Documents the controversy arising from Liebig’s polemic concerning the state of science teaching in Prussia.

Justus von Leibig and Hermann Kolbe in ihren Briefen, 1846–1873. Edited by Alan J. Rocke and Emil Heuser. Mannheim, Germany: Bionomica Verlag, 1994.

Kleine Schriften. Edited by Hans-Werner Schütt. Hildesheim, Germany, Zürich, and New York: Olms-Weidmann, 2000. A reprint of Liebig’s papers from Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie.

Justus Liebig in Grossbritannien: Justus Liebigs Briefe aus Grossbritannien an seine Frau Henriette. Edited by Günther Klaus Judel. Giessen: Liebig-Gesellschaft, 2003.

OTHER SOURCES

Berichte der Justus Liebig-Gesellschaft zu Giessen, vols. 1 (1990) to date. Giessen, Germany: Justus Liebig-Gesellschaft.

Billig, Christine. Pharmazie und Pharmaziestudium an der Universität Giessen. Stuttgart, Germany: Wissenschafttliche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994. Liebig’s pharmaceutical teaching.

Brock, William H. “Breeding Chemists in Giessen.” Ambix 50 (2003): 25–70.

Büttner, Johannes, and Wilhelm Lewicki, eds. Stoffwechsel im tierischen Organismus: Historische Studien zu Liebigs, “ThierChemie.” Seesen, Germany: HisChymia Buchverlag, 2001.

Finlay, Mark R. “Justus von Liebig and the Internationalization of Science.” Berichte der Justus Liebig-Gesellschaft 4 (1998): 57–76.

Fruton, Joseph S. Contrasts in Scientific Style: Research Groups in the Chemical and Biochemical Sciences. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990. Pages 277–307 contain comprehensive lists of Liebig’s students. Reprint in Büttner & Lewicki (2001), pp. 373–412.

Heilenz, Siegfried. Eine Führung durch das Liebig-Museum in Giessen. Giessen: Verlag Liebig-Gesellschaft, 1994. An illustrated guide to Liebig’s laboratory.

Holmes, Frederic L. “The Complementarity of Teaching and Research in Liebig’s Laboratory.” Osiris 5 (1989): 121–164.

———. “Justus Liebig and the Construction of Organic Chemistry.” In Chemical Sciences in the Modern World, edited by Seymour H. Mauskopf, 119–134. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993. Hormuth, Stefan, ed. Justus Liebig: Seine Zeit und Unsere Zeit; Der streitbare Gelehrte; Die “Chemischen Briefe.” 3 vols. Giessen: Justus Liebig-Universität, 2003. Three scholarly illustrated exhibition catalogs celebrating the 200th anniversary of Liebig’s birth.

Jaschke, Brigitte. Ideen und Naturwissenschaf:. Wechselwirkungen zwischen Chemie und Philosophie am Beispiel des Justus von Liebig und Moriz Carrière. Stuttgart, Germany: Chemisches Institut der Universität Stuttgart, 1996. Carrière was Liebig’s son-in-law.

Kirschke, Martin. Liebigs Lehrer Karl W. G. Kastner (1783–1857): Eine Professorenkarriere in Zeiten naturwissenschaftlichen Umbruchs. Berlin-Diepholz: GNT Verlag, 2001.

Klein, Ursula. Experiments, Models, Paper Tools: Cultures of Organic Chemistry in the Nineteenth Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. For Liebig’s exploitation of chemical formulas

———. “Contexts and Limits of Lavoisier’s Analytical Plant Chemistry: Plant Materials and Their Classification.” Ambix 52 (2005): 107–158. Discusses the assimilation of vegetable chemistry into organic chemistry in the 1830s.

Meimberg, Paul, ed. Justus v. Liebig 1803–1873, special issue of Gießener Universitätsblätter, Jahrgang 6 (April 1973). Contains valuable essays and list of archives in Liebig Museum.

Munday, Pat. “‘Politics by Other Means’: Liebig and Mill.” British Journal for the History of Science 31 (1998): 403–418. On Liebig’s promotion of a translation of J. S. Mill’s Logic.

Rocke, Alan J. “Origins and Spread of the ‘Giessen Model’ in University Science.” Ambix 50 (2003): 90–115.

Schwedt, Georg. Liebig und seiner Schüler: Die neue Schule der Chemie. Berlin: Springer, 2002. A popular illustrated study.

Strube, Wilhelm. Justus Liebig: Eine Biographie. Beucha, Germany: Sax-Verlag, 1998. A short biography.

Usselman, Melvyn C. “Liebig’s Alkaloid Analyses: The Uncertain Route from Elemental Content to Molecular Formulae.” Ambix 50 (2003): 71–89.

Usselman, Melvyn C., Alan J. Rocke, Christine Reinhart, et al. “Restaging Liebig: A Study in the Replication of Experiments.” Annals of Science 62 (2005): 1–55. A study of the Kaliapparat.

Werner, Petra, and Frederick L. Holmes. “Liebig and the Plant Physiologists.” Journal of the History of Biology 35 (2002): 421–441.

W. H. Brock