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 ...

Biography

Döbereiner was born in

Ústí nad Labem Ústí 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 Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

(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. The ...

), 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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 Döberei ...

, who was born in

Hof, Bavaria Hof () is a town on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the Germany, German state of Bavaria, in the Franconian region, at the Czech Republic, Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions. The town h ...

, in the border with

. 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: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, but settled in Brazil and became a Brazilian citizen in 1956. Her early work includes studies of

Azospirillum ''Azospirillum'' is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic, non- fermentative and nitrogen-fixing bacterial genus from the family of Rhodospirillaceae. ''Azospirillum'' bacteria can promote plant growth. Characteristics The genus ''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 an ...

production by encouraging a reliance on varieties that solely depended on

biological nitrogen fixation Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the Atmosphere of Earth, air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but al ...

. As a consequence of her research and ideas, numerous soybean plantations in Brazil are now completely supplied for nitrogen (N) by

rhizobia Rhizobia are diazotrophic bacteria that fix nitrogen after becoming established inside the root nodules of legumes (Fabaceae). To express genes for nitrogen fixation, rhizobia require a plant host; they cannot independently fix nitrogen. In gene ...

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." Alfr ...

in the 1990s. The

Johanna Döbereiner Biological Resources Center Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek /h/ cou ...

was named in her honour in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobereiner, Johanna 1924 births 2000 deaths People from Ústí 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

Biography

See also

References