Daniel Israel Arnon | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1910-11-14)November 14, 1910 |
| Died | December 20, 1994(1994-12-20) (aged 84) |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Known for | Photophosphorylation Plant nutrition Molybdenum Vanadium Water culture Hoagland solution |
| Spouse | Lucile Soulé |
| Awards | Arnon Lecture (2000) National Medal of Science (1973) Nobel Prize (1967, nominated) Stephen Hales Prize (1966) Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1940) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Plant physiology Plant nutrition |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Doctoral advisor | Dennis Robert Hoagland |
Daniel Israel Arnon (November 14, 1910 – December 20, 1994)[1] was aPolish-born Americanplant physiologist andNational Medal of Science recipient whose research led to greater insights into the operation ofphotosynthesis andnutrition inplants.[2]
In the first part of his professional career, the so-called "Plant Nutrition Years (1936-1950)", Arnon and collaborators discovered the essentiality ofmolybdenum for the growth of all plants and ofvanadium for the growth ofgreen algae. In the second one, the so-called "Photosynthesis Period (1951-1978)", plantmicronutrient work led him to photosynthesis.[2]
In 1954, Arnon,Mary Belle Allen andFrederick Robert Whatley discoveredphotophosphorylationin vitro.[2] In 1967, for this work, he was nominated jointly with Allen and Whatley for aNobel Prize in Chemistry.[3]
Arnon was born on November 14, 1910, inWarsaw, Poland, to a Jewish family. Summers spent on the family's farm helped foster Arnon's interest in agriculture. His father had lost the family's food wholesale business afterWorld War I. Reading about scientific agriculture in the works ofJack London, led him to save his money and apply to theUniversity of California in the United States of America.[2]
Arnon enrolled as a student in the University of California from Poland, and would spend his entire professional career at the university, until his retirement in 1978.[2] He earned his Bachelor's degree in 1932 and his Ph.D. in plant physiology in 1936 at UC Berkeley under the supervision ofDennis R. Hoagland.[4][5]
Some of Arnon's earliest research focused on growing plants in nutrient-enriched water rather thansoil.[6] Together with his supervisor, he further developed theHoagland solution which was published in modified form asHoagland's solution (1, 2) in 1938.[7] After Hoagland's death, it was further revised by Arnon in 1950.[8] Arnon became an assistant professor at the University of California in 1941.[9]
DuringWorld War II, Arnon served as a major in the Army Air Corps of theUnited States Army and was sent to thePacific Theater of Operations. From 1943 to 1946 he used his prior experience with plant nutrition onPonape Island, where there was noarable land available. He was able to grow food to feed the troops stationed there using gravel and nutrient-enriched water.[4]
After returning from military service in 1946, Arnon became an associate professor ofcell physiology at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. He investigatedplant nutrition and the contributions ofmicronutrients such asmolybdenum for the growth of all plants and ofvanadium for the growth ofgreen algae.[2]
In the 1950s, Arnon performed research withMary Belle Allen andF. Robert Whatley onchloroplasts and their role inphotosynthesis, identifying a process which they named "photosynthetic phosphorylation".[9] The group demonstrated how energy from sunlight is used to formadenosine triphosphate, the energy transport messenger within living cells, by adding a third phosphorus group toadenosine diphosphate. In 1954, they reproduced the process in a laboratory, making them the first to successfully demonstrate the chemical function of photosynthesis, producing sugar and starch from inputs of carbon dioxide and waterin vitro.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Arnon served as president of theAmerican Society of Plant Physiologists from 1952 to 1953.[4] Arnon served as theeditor of theAnnual Review of Plant Physiology (now theAnnual Review of Plant Biology) for 1956.[15]
In 1940, together with Dennis Hoagland, Arnon received the AAASNewcomb Cleveland Prize for the work "Availability of Nutrients with Special Reference to Physiological Aspects".[16]
In 1961, Arnon was elected to theNational Academy of Sciences,[2] in 1962 to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences,[17] and in 1974 to theLeopoldina.[18]
In 1966, he received theStephen Hales Prize,[19] and in 1967, he was nominated jointly withMary Belle Allen andFrederick Robert Whatley for aNobel Prize in Chemistry.[3]
In 1973, he was awarded theNational Medal of Science for "his fundamental research into the mechanism of green plant utilization of light to produce chemical energy and oxygen and for contributions to our understanding of plant nutrition."[4]
TheArnon Lecture has been held annually at UC Berkeley since 2000 in early March in honour of the late Professor Daniel I. Arnon. Speakers have made significant contributions to photosynthesis or a related field and are selected by theArnon Lecture Committee.[20]
A resident ofKensington, California, Arnon died at age 84 on December 20, 1994, inBerkeley, California, of complications resulting fromcardiac arrest. He had three daughters and two sons. His wife, the former Lucile Soulé, died in 1986.[4]
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