Charles Achille Müntz (10 August 1846 – 20 February 1917) was a French

agricultural chemist Agricultural chemistry is the study of chemistry, especially organic chemistry and biochemistry, as they relate to agriculture—agricultural production (economics), production, the food processing, processing of raw products into foods and beverag ...

Biography

He was born at

Soultz-sous-Forêts Soultz-sous-Forêts () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the site of the European Hot Dry Rocks energy research project. Notable people * George Abert, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, studied under

Jean-Baptiste Boussingault Jean-Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné Boussingault (2 February 1801 – 11 May 1887) was a French chemist who made significant contributions to agricultural science, petroleum science and metallurgy. Biography Jean-Baptiste Boussingault – an agric ...

in Paris, and, after acting as his assistant for ten years, succeeded him as director of the chemical laboratories in the

Institut National Agronomique The Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (INA P-G) was a French university-level institution of grande école-type. It offered master's degree in agricultural- and life sciences. It was created in 1971 by merging the ''Institut national agr ...

(1887–1914). From 1907 to 1914 he was also director of the research station for plant chemistry at

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

(

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

).MÜNTZ Charles Achille
Sociétés savantes de France He was a member of the

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the ...

(1896–1917) and the

Académie d'Agriculture The Académie d'agriculture de France is a voluntary association aiming to contribute to the evolution of agriculture and rural life in the scientific, technical, economic, judicial, legal, social and cultural fields. It is the successor to the s ...

(from 1915). Müntz made special research on the feeding of cattle and horses, and, following Boussingault's method, tested his theories by practice on great herds, on Parisian cab horses, and, in the case of his contributions to viniculture, in various vineyards. He served as director of the "''Bibliothèque de l'Enseignement Agricole''". In 1877 together with

Jean-Jacques Schloesing Jean-Jacques is a French name, equivalent to "John James" in English. Since the second half of 18th century, Jean Jacques Rousseau was widely known as Jean Jacques. Notable people bearing this name include: Given name * Jean-Jacques Annaud (born 19 ...

he proved that

nitrification ''Nitrification'' is the biological oxidation of ammonia to nitrite followed by the oxidation of the nitrite to nitrate occurring through separate organisms or direct ammonia oxidation to nitrate in comammox bacteria. The transformation of amm ...

is indeed microbially mediated process. He died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Writings

He published the results of his experiments in the ''Annales'' of the Agricultural Institute, and other chemical and agricultural journals, and wrote: * ''Recherches sur l'alimentation des chevaux'', with Antoine-Charles Girard (1884). * ''Les engrais'', ("On fertilizer"; 2 volumes, with Antoine-Charles Girard, 1888–91). * ''Les vignes. Recherches expérimentales sur leur culture et leur exploitation'', (1895). * ''Recherches sur la nitrification intensive et l'établissement des nitrières à hauts rendements'', ("Research on intensive

and the establishment of niter beds for high yields, 1908).

Family

He was a brother of the art critic

Eugène Müntz Eugène Müntz (11 June 1845 in Soultz-sous-Forêts, Bas-Rhin – 30 October 1902 in Paris) was an Alsatian- French art historian. From 1873 to 1876 he was a member of the École française de Rome.1846 births 1917 deaths 20th-century French chemists French agronomists People from Bas-Rhin 19th-century French chemists