Lawes, Sir John Bennet, 1st Baronet

Sir John Bennet Lawes, 1st Baronet, (born Dec. 28, 1814, Rothamsted, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, Eng.—died Aug. 31, 1900, Rothamsted), English agronomist who founded the artificial fertilizer industry and Rothamsted Experimental Station, the oldest agricultural research station in the world.

Lawes inherited his father’s estate, Rothamsted, in 1822. In 1842, after long experimentation with the effects of manures on potted plants and field crops on his estate, he patented a process for treating phosphate rock with sulfuric acid to produce superphosphate. That year he opened the first fertilizer factory, thus initiating the artificial fertilizer industry. The following year, the chemist J.H. (later Sir Henry) Gilbert joined him, and they began a collaboration lasting more than a half century; Lawes considered 1843 the year of the station’s foundation. Together, the pair studied the effects of different fertilizers on crops. They also researched animal nutrition, including the value of different fodders and the sources of animal fat.

In 1867 the Royal Society awarded Lawes and Gilbert jointly a Royal Medal. In 1882 Lawes was created a baronet. Seven years later he ensured the continuation of the Rothamsted experiments by setting up the Lawes Agricultural trust.