Johnson, Samuel William

Johnson, Samuel William

(1830–1909) agricultural chemist; born in Kingsboro, N.Y. After studying at Yale and completing his graduate work in Germany, he returned to become a professor at Yale (1856). His own research on soils, crop rotation, soil analysis, plant nutrition, fertilizers, and food adulteration advanced scientific agriculture in the U.S.A. He is also known as a pioneer in agricultural regulation (1850s) and he was one of the first to organize an American agricultural experiment station, establishing Connecticut's in 1875 and serving as its director (1877–99).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.