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Beijrinck
History
Martinus Willem Beijerinck, born 16 March 1851 in Amsterdam, studied at the Technical School of Delft, where he was awarded the degree of Chemical Engineer in 1872. He obtained his Doctor of Science degree from the University of Leiden in 1877. At the time, Delft, then a Polytechnic, did not have the right to confer doctorates, so Leiden did this for them. His thesis was called “Bijdrage tot de morphologie de plantegallen” and his promotor was Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar.
In 1884 all Beijrincks scientific work was rewarded, at very young age he became member of “Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen” (KNAW; The Dutch Royal Academy of Science)
He became a teacher in microbiology at the Agricultural School in Wageningen (now Wageningen University). Later M.W. Beijerinck was appointed Professor of Microbiology at the Delft Polytechnic in 1895, having previously been the head of the first industrial microbiology laboratory in the Netherlands, at the Delft Yeast and Spirit Factory. In 1897, his new laboratory was opened.
Beijerinck seemed to be a socially eccentric figure. It is said that he was verbally abusive to students, never married, and had few professional collaborations. His low popularity with his students periodically seemed to depressed him, as he very much loved spreading his enthusiasm for biology in the classroom.
