Article ID: CBB370865537

Physicochemical Biology and Knowledge Transfer: The Study of the Mechanism of Photosynthesis Between the Two World Wars (2022)

unapi

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the process of photosynthesis was still a mystery: Plant scientists were able to measure what entered and left a plant, but little was known about the intermediate biochemical and biophysical processes that took place. This state of affairs started to change between the two world wars, when a number of young scientists in Europe and the United States, all of whom identified with the methods and goals of physicochemical biology, selected photosynthesis as a topic of research. The protagonists had much in common: They had studied physics and chemistry (although not necessarily plant physiology) to a high level; they used physicochemical methods to study the basic processes of life; they believed these processes were the same, or very similar, in all life forms; and they were affiliated with institutions that fostered this kind of study. This set of cognitive, methodological, and material resources enabled these protagonists to transfer their knowledge of the concepts and techniques from microbiology and human biochemistry, for example, to the study of plant metabolism. These transfers of knowledge had a great influence on the way in which the biochemistry and biophysics of photosynthesis would be studied over the following decades. Through the use of four historical cases, this paper analyzes these knowledge transfers, as well as the investigative pathways that made them possible.

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Authors & Contributors
Nickelsen, Kärin
Grote, Mathias
Heidenblad, David Larsson
Hahn, Andre Michael
Olsen, Niklas
Östling, Johan
Concepts
Biochemistry
Photosynthesis
Botany
Communication within scientific contexts
Knowledge and learning
Periodicals; serials
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
Early modern
Modern
Places
United States
Europe
Scandinavia; Nordic countries
China
Great Britain
Institutions
University of California, Berkeley
American Astronomical Society
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