discovery of the role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria by Herman Hellriegel and Herman Wilfarth in 1886-1888 would open a new era of soil science."

In 1901, Beijerinck showed that Azotobacter chroococcum was able to fix atmospheric nitrogen. This was the first known species of the Azotobacter genus, so-named by him. It is also the first known diazotroph, species that use diatomic