Nico van Breemen (born 9 July 1942) is a Dutch

soil scientist Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the ...

. He was a professor of

pedogenesis Soil formation, also known as pedogenesis, is the process of soil genesis as regulated by the effects of place, environment, and history. Biogeochemical processes act to both create and destroy order (anisotropy) within soils. These alterations l ...

Wageningen University and Research Centre Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

between 1986 and 2004.

Career

Van Breemen was born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

on 9 July 1942. He obtained a degree in soil science and soil chemistry in 1968. He obtained his doctorate at Wageningen University in 1976. His thesis was titled :"Genesis and solution chemistry of acid sulfate soils in Thailand". Between 1986 and 2004 he was a professor of

at Wageningen University. In 1982, Van Breemen's self acclaimed most important paper was published in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

''. In the article Van Breemen found that

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

in the air around areas of

intensive animal farming Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...

was an important source of

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

and

soil acidification Soil acidification is the buildup of hydrogen cations, which reduces the soil pH. Chemically, this happens when a proton donor gets added to the soil. The donor can be an acid, such as nitric acid, sulfuric acid, or carbonic acid. It can also be a ...

. Van Breemen found high levels of

ammonium The ammonium cation is a positively-charged polyatomic ion with the chemical formula or . It is formed by the protonation of ammonia (). Ammonium is also a general name for positively charged or protonated substituted amines and quaternary a ...

in water running down trees in these areas and it was established that the nitrogen in the chemical compound was precipitated from ammonia in the air. With the discovery he was able to demonstrate how

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

-poor Dutch nature areas became more rich in nitrogen. The discovery was a

serendipitous Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. Etymology The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. ...

find. During his career Van Breemen also performed research on the production of methane during rice growing. The result of the research being that improved crop produce resulted in lower methane production. He retired on 30 September 2004 and opened an art gallery with his wife on the same day. Van Breemen was elected a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breemen, Nico van 1942 births Living people Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from Haarlem Dutch soil scientists Wageningen University and Research alumni Academic staff of Wageningen University and Research