To a large extent the changes to traditional waste management systems were encouraged by an international cast of chemists, such as Lavoisier, Senebier, Priestley, Ingenhouz, Tilley and du Hamel, whose experiments demonstrated that plant vitality rested on the uptake of chemicals rather than biological inputs.

Lavoisier Senebier Priestley Ingenhouz

Above images sourced from Wikipedia under Wikimedia Commons
Images from left to right,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antoine_lavoisier_color.jpg (Author:Gepsimos)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jean_Senebier.jpg (Author: Materialscientist)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Priestley.jpg (Author: Kaldari)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Ingenhousz.jpg (Author: Materialscientist)