15 Facts About Martinus Beijerinck

1.

Martinus Willem Beijerinck was a Dutch microbiologist and botanist who was one of the founders of virology and environmental microbiology.

2.

Martinus Beijerinck is credited with the discovery of viruses, which he called "contagium vivum fluidum".

3.

Martinus Beijerinck obtained his Doctor of Science degree from the University of Leiden in 1877.

4.

Martinus Beijerinck became a teacher in microbiology at the Agricultural School in Wageningen and later at the Polytechnische Hogeschool Delft.

5.

Martinus Beijerinck's achievements have been perhaps unfairly overshadowed by those of his contemporaries, Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur, because unlike them, Beijerinck never studied human disease.

6.

Martinus Beijerinck is considered one of the founders of virology.

7.

Martinus Beijerinck's results were in accordance with the similar observation made by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892.

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8.

Martinus Beijerinck named the new pathogen virus to indicate its non-bacterial nature.

9.

Martinus Beijerinck asserted that the virus was somewhat liquid in nature, calling it "contagium vivum fluidum".

10.

Martinus Beijerinck discovered the phenomenon of bacterial sulfate reduction, a form of anaerobic respiration.

11.

Martinus Beijerinck learned bacteria could use sulfate as a terminal electron acceptor, instead of oxygen.

12.

Martinus Beijerinck invented the enrichment culture, a fundamental method of studying microbes from the environment.

13.

Martinus Beijerinck is often incorrectly credited with framing the microbial ecology idea that "everything is everywhere, but, the environment selects", which was stated by Lourens Baas Becking.

14.

Martinus Beijerinck was verbally abusive to students, never married, and had few professional collaborations.

15.

Martinus Beijerinck was known for his ascetic lifestyle and his view of science and marriage being incompatible.