The golden age of biochemical research in photosynthesis

Abstract

The perspectives and enthusiasms recorded in this review describe the events I witnessed and, in small ways, contributed to. Two great rewards emerged from my experiences – the pleasure of doing experiments and the great wealth of friendships with students and colleagues. As a graduate student, phenomena appeared at the bench before me which clarified the coupling of electron transport to ATP synthesis. My first PhD graduate student measured concentrations of pyridine nucleotides in chloroplasts and his results have been often confirmed and well used. All of the many graduate students who followed contributed to our understanding of photosynthesis. I have taken much pleasure from documenting the details of photosynthetic phosphorylation and electron transport in cyanobacteria. Studies of the `c' type cytochromes in these organisms continue to fascinate me. My experiences in government in its efforts to promote research are unusual, perhaps unique. A rare event outside the laboratory – a natural bloom of cyanobacteria – stimulated new thoughts and special opportunities for laboratory science. Photosynthesis seems magisterial in its shaping of our planet and its biology and in the details of its cleverness that were revealed in the time of my witness.