The Discovery of Photosynthesis

By jmagal01

  • Discovery of water contribution to plant's growth.

    Discovery of water contribution to plant's growth.
    In the 1600's, a Belgian chemist named Jan Baptista van Helmont conducted an experiment where he believed the nutrients in water and not the soil made plants grow.

  • Discovery that plants produce oxygen

    Discovery that plants produce oxygen
    Jan Ingenhousz, a Dutch chemist, proved that plants produced oxygen. He conduced an experiment where plants produced small bubbles in the sunlight. He determined plants needed sunlight to produce oxygen.

  • Discovery that plants absorb carbon dioxide

    Discovery that plants absorb carbon dioxide
    Jean Senebier, a Swiss botanist, discovered that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen with the help of sunlight.

  • Carbon Dioxide and Water

    Carbon Dioxide and Water
    In the early 1800's, Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure discovered that the growth of large amounts of plants were not a result of carbon dioxide alone, but also the uptake of water.

  • Plant transforms energy

    Plant transforms energy
    Julius Robert Mayer, a German physician, proposed that plants convert light energy into chemical energy.

  • Starch is Produced in Plants

    Starch is Produced in Plants
    Julius Sachs made an experiment where he determined how starch is produced with the help of sunlight and in relation to chlorophyll.

  • General Equation for Photosynthesis

    General Equation for Photosynthesis
    Cornelis Van Niel proposed the general equation for photosynthesis, which eventually led to the simplified equation for photosynthesis used today.