Academic/General Training Module by Adam Smith First Published in 2015

 IELTS
 JOURNAL 
 
66 
List of scientists 
A Boussingault 
B Lawes 
C von 
Liebig 
Example:
Here is part of a text about the development of fertilizers in the nineteenth 
century. In this example the questions follow the order of the text. 
Food production was greatly improved in the nineteenth century, one reason 
being the development of effective fertilizers. The German chemist Justus von 
Liebig (1803-1873) added considerably to the knowledge of plant nutrition, 
identifying the crucial importance of nitrogen, and the French scientist Jean 
Baptiste Boussingault (1802-1887) discovered that different kinds of fertilizers 
required different amounts of nitrogen. However, a business venture by von 
Liebig failed: although the fertilizer he sold was much less expensive than the 
guano it was intended to replace, crops were unable to absorb it adequately. 
Von Liebig later developed a manufacturing process for making beef extract 
cubes, which are still used in kitchens around the world. 
In Britain, John Bennet Lawes (1814-1900) owned a farm where he 
experimented with crops and manures: at first he tested the effects of various 
manures on potted plants, and later worked on crops in the field. In 1842, he 
patented a successful superphosphate, which was the first artificial manure. 
Lawes made provision for the experimental farm to continue after his death, and 
it exists to this day. 
Question: 
1. He showed that nitrogen is essential for plant 
nutrition. 
2. He demonstrated the need to vary the quantity of 
nitrogen in fertilizers. 
3. He introduced a fertilizer that saved money but 
was ineffective. 
4. He invented a method of processing a food for human consumption. 
5. He invented the first synthetic manure. 
6. He set up a research establishment that is still in operation.