Johanna Liesbeth Kubelka Döbereiner (28 November 1924 – 5 October 2000) was a
Brazilian agronomist
An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the U ...
.
Biography
Döbereiner was born in
Ústà nad Labem
Ústà nad Labem (, , ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of its eponymous region and district. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway ju ...
, Czechoslovakia on the 28 November 1924. Her family were
German Czechoslovakians from Aussig in
Bohemia (at that time was
Austria–Hungary Empire and now is
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...
), who left the country after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Her father was Professor
Paul Kubelka. Her name Döbereiner came from her husband Jürgen Döbereiner, who she met in Munich. Interestingly, her name became similar to the famous chemist
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (13 December 1780 – 24 March 1849) was a German chemist who is best known for work that foreshadowed the periodic law for the chemical elements, and for inventing the first lighter, which was known as the Döbere ...
, who was born in
Hof, Bavaria
Hof () is a town on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconian region, at the Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions.
The town has 47,296 inhabitants, ...
, in the border with
Bohemia.
Johanna Döbereiner received her degree from the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...
, but settled in Brazil and became a Brazilian citizen in 1956. Her early work includes studies of
Azospirillum and other bacteria that could be useful to Brazilian soil. She later played an important role in Brazil's
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 ...
production by encouraging a reliance on varieties that solely depended on
biological nitrogen fixation.
As a consequence of her research and ideas, numerous soybean plantations in Brazil are now completely supplied for nitrogen (N) by
rhizobia and not using any N-fertilizers. This movement has had big benefits, because Brazil, together with the U.S., are the main producers of soybean in the world (ca. 50% world production). Considering that soybeans are one of the most important global sources of protein (mainly fed to animals that in turn becomes animal protein for human consumption), this implies that significant amount of global protein comes from an ecological biological process without the use of industrial chemical fertilizers.
This was one of the reasons that Johanna Döbereiner was indicated for the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
in the 1990s.
The
Johanna Döbereiner Biological Resources Center was named in her honour in 2017.
See also
*
Timeline of women in science
This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women ...
*
Ana Maria Primavesi
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobereiner, Johanna
1924 births
2000 deaths
People from Ústà nad Labem
Czechoslovak emigrants to Brazil
Brazilian agronomists
Brazilian women scientists
Brazilian scientists
Sudeten German people
Women agronomists
TWAS fellows
20th-century women scientists
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Recipients of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil)
Naturalized citizens of Brazil
20th-century agronomists