Birkeland, Kristian

Bacque, Henry, 46 Beck, Christoph, 99 Beijerinck, Martinus, 15 Bergius, Friedrich, 85, 224 Bernthsen, August, 76, 80 Berthelot, Marceline, 13 Berthollet, Claude-Louis, 3, 5, 61 Birkeland, Kristian, 53 Bohn, Rene, 75 Borchardt, Philipp, 102 Borlaug, Norman, 139 Bosch, Carl, 64, 75... 

The process is named for the Norwegian physicist and chemist Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland (1867-1917) and the Norwegian engineer and industrialist Samuel Eyde (1866-1940). See also nitrogen fixation. 

The number did not increase until after 1906 as shown in Table 10.1. That was when hydroelectric power plants started to be built in Norway in larger numbers. The power was cheap and had to be used locally. That stimulated the construction of chemical plants for producing calcium nitrate (Norwegian saltpetre) using a new process developed by the professor of physics Kristian Birkeland and the construction engineer and industrialist Sam Eyde. Also other processes were developed later depending on cheap electric power and requiring chemical expertise. 

Egeland, Alv. and William J. Burke (2005), Kristian Birkeland. The First Space Scientist, Springer. 

Kristian Birkeland (1867-1917) was a professor of physics in Oslo and became well known for investigations of the relations between geomagnetism and the aurora borealis. Obviously he covered a broad field of interest, as his name is also connected with the very first method of manufacturing nitric acid from atmospheric nitrogen. The technique is known as the Birkeland-Eyde process. 

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