azotobacter

Term: azotobacter

azoto + bacter(ium)

Origin: Anc Greek

άζωτο/azoto(=used formerly as a name for nitrogen)

α (=(privative) +ζωή/zoe(=life)

βακτήριον/bacterion(=bacterium) > βακτηρία/bacteria (=rod, stick) because the first ones observed were rod-shaped.

Coined

  The term “ azoto” was coined by Lavoisier, who saw it as the part of air which cannot sustain life.

Martinus Willem Beijerinck (1851 –1931)

  The term “bacteriun” coined in 1838 by German naturalist zoologist Christian Goofried Ehrenberg (1795-1876).

  The term azotobacter was coined in 1901 by Dutch microbiologist and botanist Martinus Willem Beijerinck (1851 –1931).

Definition

A genus of gram-negative, nitrogen-fixing aerobic bacteria found in soil and water.