Johannes Christian Brunnich
Encyclopedia
Johannes Christian Brünnich (11 September 1861 – 3 July 1933) was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n agricultural chemist
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

.

Brünnich was the son of Christian Christoph Brünnich, a Lutheran pastor and mathematician, and his wife Pauline Therese, née Kühnehe and was born at Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...

, then in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

, now Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Raised in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, he was educated in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 after his family moved there in 1874 and obtained his knowledge of chemistry at the federal polytechnic school at Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

. He travelled in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and for a period was chemist in a sugar-mill in Bohemia. While performing Swiss military service in 1884, he met Dr J. J. Mueller of Gayndah, Queensland
Gayndah, Queensland
Gayndah is a town located on the Burnett River in Queensland, Australia. It is north of the state capital, Brisbane, and west of the regional city of Maryborough. The Burnett Highway passes through the town. At the 2006 census, Gayndah had a population of 1,745.-History:Exploration of the...

, and decided to emigrate to Australia, arriving in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

 early in 1885.

In 1887 Brünnich became chief chemist and mill manager for the Colonial Sugar Refining Company
Colonial Sugar Refining Company
The Colonial Sugar Refining Company may refer to:*CSR Limited - Australian company*Colonial Sugar Refining Company - the sugar plantations in Fiji*Chelsea Sugar Refinery - the New Zealand company formed by Colonial Sugar...

 at Homebush, near Mackay
Mackay, Queensland
Mackay is a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar....

. In 1897 he was appointed government agricultural chemist in the new Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 Department of Agriculture. For about 35 years he advised the department on a multiplicity of problems relating to agriculture in Queensland, and drafted many bills for the government relating among other things to fertilizers, stock foods, pure seeds and the destruction of pests. He also made scientific investigations into the prickly pear
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...

 problem, the use of dipping fluids, water pollution and the provision of phosphatic licks for stock. He was vice-president of the Royal Society of Queensland
Royal Society of Queensland
The Royal Society of Queensland was formed in Queensland, Australia in 1884, with royal patronage granted in 1885.The aim of the Society is "Increasing awareness of natural sciences in Queensland"....

 in 1907, president in 1908 and treasurer in 1909-14.

Brünnich did valuable pioneer work in his investigations of pasture composition and set a high standard in his department. Generally he was a strong influence in the development of applied chemistry during his time. He retired from the agriculture department in September 1931 and died cerebro-vascular disease on 3 July 1933. In 1886 he married Kate Terry, who survived him with two sons and three daughters. He was a foundation member and fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute
Royal Australian Chemical Institute
The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Inc. is both the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry in all its branches. The RACI hosts conferences, seminars and workshops...

 and was elected a fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain
Royal Institute of Chemistry
The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation.Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain, its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its aim was to ensure that consulting and analytical chemists were properly...

in 1905.
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