[1] Her family were German Czechoslovakians from Aussig in Bohemia, which at the time of their birth was the Austria–Hungary Empire, who left their country after World War II.

Interestingly, her name became similar to the famous chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, who was born in Hof, Bavaria, in the border with Bohemia.

Johanna Döbereiner received her degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, but settled in Brazil and became a Brazilian citizen in 1956.

[3] She later played an important role in Brazil's soybean production by encouraging a reliance on varieties that solely depended on biological nitrogen fixation.

[4] As a consequence of her research and ideas, numerous soybean plantations in Brazil are now completely supplied for nitrogen (N) by rhizobia and not using any N-fertilizers.