Friedrich J. Haberlandt (1826–1878) was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

at the ''Hochschule fuer Bodenkultur'' ( Royal College of Agriculture) in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. He is best known for his book ''Die Sojabohne'' (The Soybean, 1878), which introduced

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...

cultivation to Western and Central Europe.

Early years

Friedrich Haberlandt was born on 21 February 1826 in Bratislava (known as Pressburg in German), in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

(

Transleithania The Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen ( hu, a Szent Korona Országai), informally Transleithania (meaning the lands or region "beyond" the Leitha River) were the Hungarian territories of Austria-Hungary, throughout the latter's entire exi ...

). He studied at the

agricultural college This article lists agricultural universities and colleges around the world, by continent and country. Africa Algeria * Higher National Agronomic School (French name: Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique) Benin * Agricultural University of ...

in Hungarian Altenberg (formerly Magyaróvár, today's

Mosonmagyaróvár Mosonmagyaróvár (; german: Wieselburg-Ungarisch Altenburg; also known by other alternative names) is a town in Győr-Moson-Sopron County in northwestern Hungary. It lies close to both the Austrian and Slovakian borders and has a population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

) about 2 miles northwest of

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

where he was active from 1851 to 1853 as assistant professor and from 1853 to 1869 as professor. He was the father of three sons and three daughters. One of his sons was the eminent botanist

Gottlieb Haberlandt Gottlieb Haberlandt (28 November 1854 – 30 January 1945) was an Austrian botanist. He was the son of European 'soybean' pioneer Professor Friedrich J. Haberlandt. His son Ludwig Haberlandt was an early reproductive physiologist now given credit ...

plant tissue culture Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. It is widely used to produce clones of a plant in a method known ...

theorist and visionary. His grandson was

Ludwig Haberlandt Ludwig Haberlandt (1 February 1885 – 22 July 1932) is known as a father of hormonal contraception. In 1921 he carried out experiments on rabbits and he demonstrated a temporary hormonal contraception in a female by transplanting ovaries from a se ...

famed endocrinologist and pioneer in chemical birth control,

the pill The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: proges ...

Interest in soybeans

In 1873 Haberlandt first became interested in soybeans when he obtained the seeds of 19 soybean varieties at the

Vienna World Exposition ) , building = Rotunda , area = 233 Ha , invent = , visitors = 7,255,000 , organized = , cnt = , org = , biz = , country = Austria-Hungary , city ...

''(Wiener Weltausstellung).'' At the time he was a professor at the Imperial-Royal College of Agriculture (''k.k. Hochschule für Bodencultur'') in Vienna. He cultivated these seeds in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and soon began to distribute them throughout Central and Western Europe. Most of the farmers who received seeds from him cultivated them, then reported their results back to him. Starting in Feb. 1876, he published these results first in various journal articles, and finally in his magnum opus, ''Die Sojabohne'' in 1878. A biography of Friedrich Haberlandt and his work with soybeans (129 pages, 169 references) is now available online. He died in 1878, at age 52, in the prime of his life. His untimely and premature death probably set back the interest in soybeans in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

by at least 50 years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haberlandt, Friedrich J. Agriculturalists Austro-Hungarian scientists 1826 births 1878 deaths 19th-century agronomists