Top 25 Facts About Jan Ingenhousz and How He Discovered Photosynthesis

Jan Ingenhousz was born on December 8th, 1730 in Breda, Netherlands. If you happen to be in that corner of the world and want to know where Breda is, don’t bother. The city is known nowadays as the Southern Netherlands.

Jan Ingenhousz was a determined young scientist. At only 16 years of age, he began studying medicine. He studied at the University of Leuven in Belgium and received his M.D. in 1753.

When Jan Ingenhousz finished studying for his medical degree, he went back to his hometown of Breda and became a doctor there.

Jan Igenhousza became intrigued by electricity because of one very famous scientist. Pieter van Musschenbroek fueled his imagination and sparked his love of electricity after he heard pioneer speak at The University of Leiden.

Jan Ingenhousz injected 700 Austrian villagers with a vaccine for smallpox. He hoped that it would stop the epidemic. He also gave the vaccine to King George the 3rd’s family.

The Austrian royal family heard of his vaccinations of the villagers and he was asked to come and vaccinate them as well. The vaccination was a success and he was elected the doctor for The Royal Family of Austria.

Ingenhousz wrote a book called “Experiments upon Vegetables—Discovering Their Great Power of Purifying the Common Air in the Sunshine and of Injuring It in the Shade and at Night.”

Igenhousz is most famous for his discovery of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process in sunlight absorb carbon dioxide, and then release oxygen.

Ingenhousz’s discovery of photosynthesis created a profound understanding of how plants and the environment interact with each other.

Another experiment that he did was dip metal rods in wax, and then seeing how much melted off. It was this experiment that led him to discover that silver was the best metal for conducting heat, and lead was the worse.

He made his discovery of photosynthesis in the exact same laboratory that scientist Joseph Priestly discovered Oxygen.

Igenhousz didn’t have many siblings. As a matter of fact, he only had one older brother. His name was Ludovicus Ingenhousz. Ludovicus went down a different career path than Jan. He studied apothecary and went into that industry.

Igenhousz’s experiment with photosynthesis led him to discover that the green parts of a plant inhaled carbon and then released oxygen during the day.

It was also during the famous photosynthesis discovery that Igenhousz also discovered that chlorophyll, which is the green part of the plant, helps the process of photosynthesis.

Ingenhousz was a huge admirer of the works of one very famous inventor. He was Benjamin Franklin. Interestingly, they corresponded and shared ideas throughout the years.

Ingenhousz is also credited with discovering “Brownian Motion”. Brownian Motion is the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid (a liquid or a gas) resulting from their collision with the quick atoms or molecules in the gas or liquid.

In 1775, while stationed in Vienna, Ingenhousz married Agatha Maria Jacquin. Whether they were too busy or they did not want a bigger family, Ingenhousz and Jacquin did not have any children.

In 1796 he was elected into the Fellow of the Royal Society. The Fellow of the Royal Society is an award that the Royal Society of London gives to those that have made outstanding contributions to math, engineering, and medical science.

Ingenhousz helped save the life of King Kaiser Leopold II. He gave him the smallpox vaccine. Although the king didn’t rule for very long he was highly regarded.

During the early stages of the photosynthesis experiment, Ingenousz put plants underwater. He discovered that when plants were in the light bubbles began to form in the water.

Although Robert Brown is given credit for discovering Brownian Motion. Many people say it was Ingenhousz’s previous work with gas and fire that led to the discovery.

Jan Ingenhousz played a fundamental role in how we understand plant life. He is one of many awe-inspiring Dutch scientists who changed the world. Christiaan Huygens  and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes are also Dutch scientists who paved the way for scientific exploration.

There is not much known about his parents, Arnoldus Ingenhousz and Maria (Beckers) Ingenhousz. The only thing that is likely, is that they were able to get Ingenhousz a very good education. Therefore he was able to discover many great things.

Ingenhousz died on September 7th, 1799 in Wiltshire, England. He was ill for many months before succumbing to his sickness.

If he were alive today, Ingenhousz would be 289 years old. While it would be impossible for him to still be walking the Earth, his discovery and many contributions to the scientific community are still studied and talked about today.