Sumner. James

A vat of sulfur in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. Sulfur is an important crop nutrient and is the thirteenth most abundant element in Earth s crust. 

In Earth s crustal composition, sulfur ranks thirteenth in abundance, with an estimated concentration of 0.05 percent. Sulfur exists in elemental form, as metallic sulfides, as sulfates, and, when combined with carbon and nitrogen, in organic forms. Most of the world s sulfur resource is located in North America. It is distributed, in descending order according to share of that resource, as follows the United States and Canada have 26 percent and 22 percent, respectively, followed by Russia (11 %), Saudi Arabia (5%), Japan (5%), Poland (4%), Germany (4%), and France (2%) the remaining 21 percent is distributed in other countries. 

Sulfur is commercially important in the manufacture of chemicals such as sulfuric acid. The chemicals, in turn, are used in the manufacture of sulfa drugs, vulcanized rubber, acid batteries, dyes, and so on. In agriculture, sulfur is the fourth most important crop nutritive element, after nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Its use in fertilizers is increasing rapidly. Sulfur is also used to manufacture poultry feed additives, pesticides, and parasiticides. SEE ALSO ChALCOGENS. 

Hampel, Clifford A., and Hawley, Gessner G. (1976). Gkssary of Chemical Terms. New York Van Nostrand Reinhold. 

Tisdale, Samuel L. Nelson, Werner L. and Beaton, James D. (1985). Soil Fertility and Fertilizers, 4th edition. New York Macmillan. 

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Sumner, James B. (1887-1955). An American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1946 along with Northrop and Stanley. His work was mainly concerned with enzymes, and he was the first in the field to isolate and crystallize an enzyme and determined it was a protein. He inspired followers to continue research in virus and enzyme study. His education was at Harvard and he taught for many years at Cornell. 

Sumner, James (1937). The Story of Urease. Journal of Chemical Education 14 255-259. 

Sumner, James (1946). The Chemical Nature of Enzymes. Nobel Lecture, presented in November 1946. In Nobel Lectures Chemistry. New York Elsevier. 

Sumner, James. Nobel Lecture. Available from . 

W. Strut, III), drawing. The Library of Congress p. 179 Vat of sulfur, photograph by Farrell Grehan. Corbis. Reproduced by permission p. 180 Sumner, James B., portrait. The Library of Congress p. 182 Meissner effect, cube floating above a... 

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