Baron Justus von Liebig
Liebig, Baron Justus von (1803-1873), a German chemist. He discovered chloroform and aldehyde and worked in collaboration with the chemist Friedrich Whler on the study of uric acid and fermentation. His later years were spent in studying the life processes of plants and animals, and he was the first to prove that body heat is the result of combustion of foods in the body. Liebig is called the founder of agricultural chemistry for his pioneer studies of artificial fertilizers and chemical transformations that take place in plants.
Liebig was born in Darmstadt and attended the universities of Bonn and Erlangen, receiving a Ph.D. from Erlangen in 1822. He then went to Paris for further study of chemistry. He was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Giessen in 1824, and established there one of the first chemical teaching laboratories. Some of his students were to become leading chemists in their own right. In 1852 Liebig became professor of chemistry at the University of Munich, a position he held the rest of his life.
Liebig's books include Handbook of Organic Chemistry (1839); Chemistry in Its Application to Agriculture and Physiology (1840); Handbook of Organic Analysis (1853); The Natural Law of Animal Husbandry (1862).