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Period: 100 to
Timespan
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300
B.C., Theophrastus
Theophrastus proposed that plants obtain nutrition via their roots. -
350
B.C., Aristotle
Aristotle proposed that plants need food to survive. -
Jan 1, 1450
de Cusa
Nicholas de Cusa experimented with plants, and predicted that plants derive their mass from water, and not soil. -
Van Helmont
Jan Baptista Van Helmont conducted experiments which led him to conclude that trees consumed water, not soil. -
Woodward
John Woodward declared that plants need nourishment from sources other than water. Also, he declared that soil imparts mass to plants. -
Hales
Stephen Hales declared that plants need air to live and he inferred that plants need light for photosynthetic reactions. -
Priestly
Joseph Priestly discovered a gas, dubbed "dephlogisticated air" by focusing solar rays on mercuric oxide. This gas was later names "oxygen" -
Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier gave oxygen gas its name and debunks the phlogiston theory. -
Ingen-Housz
Jan Ingen-Housz discovered that plants emitted oxygen gas in light, thereby initializing the concept of photosynthesis. -
Senebier
Jean Senebier discovered that plants absorb gaseous carbon dioxide and they simultaneously emit gaseous oxygen. -
Comparetti
Comparetti first discovers what are now known as chloplasts in plant tissues. -
de Saussure
Nicolas de Saussure conducted experiments that led him to conclude that during photosynthesis, plants absorb gaseous carbon dioxide. (de Saussure, par 5) -
von Mayer
Concluded that plants store solar energy and that photosynthesis is the transformation from light energy to chemical energy. -
Engelmann
Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann discovered the effect of varying wavelengths of light on photosynthesis, and used this information to create the action spectrum. -
Arnold, Emerson
Robert Emerson and William Arnold stated that photosynthesis occurs by hundreds of chloroplasts cooperating with each other. -
Calvin
Melvin Calvin traced the path of carbons in photosynthesis, thereby founding the Calvin Cycle -
Marcus
Rudolph A. Marcus developed the Marcus Theory, which refers to electron transfer in plants' cells. -
International Consortium
A consortium discovers an almost complete genome squence of the Arabidopsis thaliana. -
Berkeley Lab
The U.S. Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab managed to turn sunlight into liquid form to replicate photosynthesis. This will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that natural photosynthesis contributes to.