Sir John Lawes and the
fertilizer industry
| Interviewee | Prof Roger Plumb | Presenters | James and Yasmine | |
| Reporters | Shriya and Isobel | Producer | Ben |
Rothamsted is considered the oldest agricultural research station in the world. Its foundation dates from 1843 when John Bennet Lawes, the owner of the Rothamsted Estate, appointed Joseph Henry Gilbert, a chemist, as his scientific collaborator. As a young man, Lawes had been interested in the effect of fertilizers on crop growth and tested all sorts of things, from farm manure to bones. Mixing bones with acid, he produced soluble phosphates that were readily accessible by the roots of plants. In 1842, he started the first factory for the manufacture of artificial fertilizers. Lawes was not only a successful entrepreneur, he was destined to become one of the great Victorian scientists.
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