Homage to Robert Hooke (1635-1703): new insights from the recently discovered Hooke Folio.

Microorganisms were first observed by Robert Hooke and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek between 1665 and 1678. In 1665, Hooke published Micrographia, which depicted the details of 60 objects as seen in the microscope. One chapter was devoted to the microfungus Mucor, the first microbe observed by the human eye.

Pictorial demonstrations of photosynthesis.

Theodor Engelmann's experiments in 1882 provided the first recorded visual demonstration of light wavelengths that are absorbed by photosynthetic pigments. Later, starch images in intact leaves were used to demonstrate photosynthesis in green plants. Similarly, light-induced chloroplast movements can form images in leaves as a result of changes in light transmittance through leaves and photoinhibition can form images that can be visualized by whole leaf chlorophyll fluorescence.

Samuel Ruben's Contributions to Research on Photosynthesis and Bacterial Metabolism with Radioactive Carbon.

The earliest experiments on the pathways of carbon in photosynthetic and heterotrophic metabolism using radioactive carbon, (11)C, as a tracer were performed by Samuel (Sam) Ruben, Martin Kamen, and their colleagues. The short half-life of (11)C (20 min), however, posed severe limitations on identification of metabolic intermediates, and this was a major stimulus to search for a radioactive carbon isotope of longer half-life. (14)C was discovered by Ruben and Kamen in 1940, but circumstances prevented continuation of their research using the long-lived isotope.

Time line of discoveries: anoxygenic bacterial photosynthesis.

A time line of important research relating to anoxygenic photosynthetic organisms is presented. The time line includes discoveries of organisms, metabolic capabilities, molecular complexes and genetic systems. It also pinpoints important milestones in our understanding of the structure, function, organization, assembly and regulation of photosynthetic complexes.