Martinus Beijerinck
Dutch microbiologist and co-discoverer of viruses.
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via Wikipedia: List of biologists · see source
He is considered one of the founders of virology for his 1898 work on tobacco mosaic disease.[1][2]
Life and work
Born in Amsterdam, Beijerinck earned a biology degree from the Technical School of Delft in 1872.[3] Beijerinck also discovered bacterial sulfate reduction, isolating the first known sulfate-reducing bacterium, Spirillum desulfuricans.[4][5] After retiring in 1921, he moved to Gorssel to live with his two sisters.[6] He was known as a socially eccentric figure who never married and had an ascetic lifestyle.[6]
Beijerinck's initial notable paper, composed in 1877, examined plant galls and subsequently formed the foundation for his doctoral dissertation.[7] Filtration experiments published in 1898 by Beijerinck demonstrated that an agent smaller than bacteria causes tobacco mosaic disease.[1] To highlight that the new pathogen was not bacterial, Beijerinck called it a virus.[8][2] The enrichment culture technique, a key method for isolating microbes from natural samples, was created by Beijerinck.[9]
What the cited sources add
The same source states he first used the name "virus" for the tiny infectious agent we still call by that name.[2] Beijerinck did not pursue his virus research further after his initial work, moving on to other studies until his retirement.[2] A colleague called Beijerinck the "father of virology" as early as 1926, recognizing his innovative and guiding ideas.[2] The List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature records that Beijerinck described the type species Desulfovibrio desulfuricans in 1895.[5]
References
- Wikipedia, "Martinus Beijerinck" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lustig, "One Hundred Years of Virology", Journal of Virology, 1992, p. 4629–4631; Bos, "The Embryonic Beginning of Virology: Unbiased Thinking and Dogmatic Stagnation", Archives of Virology, 1995, p. 613–619; Zaitlin, "Discoveries in Plant Biology", World Publishing Co., 1998, p. 105–110; "World of Microbiology and Immunology", Thomas Gage Publishing, 2002; Beijerinck, "Über ein Contagium vivum fluidum als Ursache der Fleckenkrankheit der Tabaksblätter", Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, 1898, p en.wikipedia.org
- "De man die het virus bedacht", 24 March 2020. facts only, no text reused. historischnieuwsblad.nl
- Wikipedia, "Martinus Beijerinck" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chung, "Martinus Willem Beijerinck (1851–1931): Pioneer of General Microbiology", ASM News, 1996, p. 539––543 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Martinus Beijerinck" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jean, "Genus Desulfovibrio", List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Jean, "Genus Desulfovibrio", List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature. facts only, no text reused. lpsn.dsmz.de
- Wikipedia, "Martinus Beijerinck" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "De man die het virus bedacht", 24 March 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Martinus Beijerinck" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bos, "Beijerinck's Work on Tobacco Mosaic Virus: Historical Context and Legacy", Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 29 March 1999, p. 675–685 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Martinus Beijerinck" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Creager, "The Life of a Virus: Tobacco Mosaic Virus as an Experimental Model, 1930-1965", University of Chicago Press, 2002, p. 26 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Martinus Beijerinck" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: de Wit R, Bouvier T., "Everything is everywhere, but, the environment selects; what did Baas Becking and Beijerinck really say?", Environmental Microbiology, 2006, p. 755–758; Bass-Becking, "Geobiologie of inleiding tot de milieukunde", W.P. Van Stockum & Zoon, 1934 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Martinus Beijerinck (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Martinus Beijerinck (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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