Niklaus Gerber (8 June 1850 – 9 February 1914) was a Swiss dairy chemist and industrialist. He was born in 1850 in

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He attended the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...

and

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

, studied chemistry in Paris and Munich and spent 2 years at the Swiss-American Milk Co. in

Little Falls, New York Little Falls is a city in Herkimer County, New York. The population was 4,946 at the time of the 2010 census, which is the second-smallest city population in the state, ahead of only the city of Sherrill. The city is built on both sides of the ...

Biography

In 1887, Gerber founded United Dairies of Zurich. At this time, the quality of raw milk was poor due to lack of hygiene. Further, dishonest dairymen would dilute raw milk with water and no means existed to effectively test the milk. In 1892, Dr. Gerber developed a method of analyzing fat content in milk in a relatively fast, simple and reliable manner for the time. Niklaus obtained a patent on this "Acid-Butyrometry," which came to be known as the "

Gerber Method The Gerber method is a primary and historic chemical test to determine the fat content of substances, most commonly milk and cream. The Gerber method is the primary testing method in Europe and much of the world. The fairly similar Babcock test i ...

". Although the method was originally developed for use only by United Dairies, Dr. Gerber began to sell the equipment to milk processors globally and created a separate company to commercialise the Gerber Method. In 1904, Gerber founded the "Dr. N. Gerber's Acid-Butyrometry Ltd., Leipzig", which later merged with another entity to create "Dr. N. Gerber's m.b.H Zurich and Leipzig" to produce and develop the Gerber instruments. Gerber died in 1914. The Gerber method remains in wide use throughout much of the world. The

Babcock test The Babcock test is an inexpensive and practical procedure to determine the fat content of milk. It is named after its developer, Stephen M. Babcock (1843–1931), professor at the University of Wisconsin.Stephen M, Babcock (1890): "A New Method ...

is similar and is more widely used in the United States.

References

1850 births 1914 deaths People from Thun University of Bern alumni University of Zurich alumni Swiss chemists {{Chemist-stub