From humble beginnings as a small desert laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Carnegie Institution's Department of Plant Biology has evolved into a thriving international center of plant molecular biology that sits today on the campus of Stanford University. This fourth in a series of five histories of the Carnegie Institution touches on the tangled beginnings of ecology, the baroque complexities of photosynthesis, the great mid-century evolutionary synthesis and the adventurous start of the plant molecular revolution.

From humble beginnings as a small desert laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Carnegie Institution's Department of Plant Biology has evolved into a thriving international center of plant molecular biology on the campus of Stanford University. This fourth in a series of five histories of the Carnegie Institution considers the beginnings of ecology, complexities of photosynthesis, great mid-century evolutionary synthesis and the start of the plant molecular revolution.

Since its foundation in 1904, the Mount Wilson Observatory has been at the centre of the development of astrophysics. Perched atop a mountain wilderness, two mammoth solar tower telescopes and the 60- and 100-inch behemoth night-time reflectors were all the largest in the world. Research has centred around two main themes - the evolution of stars and the development of the universe. This first volume in a series of five histories of the Carnegie Institution describes the people and events, the challenges and successes that the Observatory has witnessed. It includes biographical sketches of forty of the most famous Mount Wilson pioneer astronomers working during the first half of the twentieth century. Contemporary photographs illustrate the development and use of some of the innovative instruments that filled the observatory during this time. This story brings together the elements that formed modern theories of stellar evolution and cosmology.

Biographic Memoirs Volume 88 contains the biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences and bibliographies of their published works. Each biographical essay was written by a member of the Academy familiar with the professional career of the deceased. For historical and bibliographical purposes, these volumes are worth returning to time and again.

The fifth in a series of five histories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, offering an exciting exploration of a century of scientific discovery.

The first book to chronicle how innovation in laboratory designs for botanical research energized the emergence of physiological plant ecology as a vibrant subdiscipline Laboratory innovation since the mid-twentieth century has powered advances in the study of plant adaptation, evolution, and ecosystem function. The phytotron, an integrated complex of controlled-environment greenhouse and laboratory spaces, invented by Frits W. Went in the 1950s, set off a worldwide laboratory movement and transformed the plant sciences. Sharon Kingsland explores this revolution through a comparative study of work in the United States, France, Australia, Israel, the USSR, and Hungary. These advances in botanical research energized physiological plant ecology. Case studies explore the development of phytotron spinoffs such as mobile laboratories, rhizotrons, and ecotrons. Scientific problems include the significance of plant emissions of volatile organic compounds, symbiosis between plants and soil fungi, and the discovery of new pathways for photosynthesis as an adaptation to hot, dry climates. The advancement of knowledge through synthesis is a running theme: linking disciplines, combining laboratory and field research, and moving across ecological scales from leaf to ecosystem. The book also charts the history of modern scientific responses to the emerging crisis of food insecurity in the era of global warming.

Also available online as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library under the title Complete dictionary of scientific biography.

This biography of Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) places her life and work in its social, scientific and personal context. The author examines the development of Barbara McClintock’s scientific work and her influence upon individuals and upon the fields of cytogenetics and evolutionary biology in the period from 1902 to the present. The history documents years of McClintock’s notable and lauded scientific work long before she discovered and named transposable elements in the mid-1940s for which she ultimately received the Nobel Prize. The biography employs documented evidence to expose, demystify, and provide clarity for legends and misinterpretations of McClintock’s life and work. Key Features Exposes and demystifies myths and legends told about McClintock’s time in Missouri Clarifies the changing language of genes and genetics Places in perspective the history of McClintock’s research Documents McClintock’s family and early life before college Provides documented details of McClintock’s time in Nazi Germany