Gabrielle Matthaei

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Gabrielle Louise Caroline Matthaei (born October 3, 1876 in London , † August 18, 1930 in Genoa ) was a British botanist and plant physiologist .

Gabrielle Matthaei attended South Hampstead High School and the North London Collegiate School for Girls and studied at Newnham College of the University of Cambridge science. As an assistant to Frederick Blackman , she played an important role in the discovery of important principles of photosynthetic reactions . In 1910 she married the botanist and farmer Albert Howard and was his assistant in his research in India .

Blackman and Matthaei made fundamental discoveries about photosynthesis and published them together in 1905. They cultivated plants ( laurel cherry and Jerusalem artichoke ) and varied the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), the light intensity and the temperature. The effects of these parameters on the rate of photosynthesis were then measured. They were able to determine that under conditions of strong light and a low CO 2 concentration the photosynthesis rate was temperature-dependent and concluded that the utilization or fixation of the CO 2 is based on normal biochemical reactions that are temperature-dependent. With an excess of CO 2 and a low amount of light, however, no influence of temperature was found. They concluded that reactions induced by light do not depend on temperature, a fact that applies generally to photochemical reactions.

Publications

  • Blackman, FF, and GLC Matthaei (1905): Experimental researches on vegetable assimilation and respiration. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Series B, 197: 47.
  • Howard A. and GLC Howard (1910): Studies in Indian fiber plants. No. 1. Hibiscus cannabinus L. Mem. Dept. Agr. India Bot. Ser. 4th
  • Howard, A. and GLC Howard (1917): The economic significance of the root development of agricultural crops. Agr. Jour. India, Indian Sci. Congr. Number.
  • Howard, A. and GLC Howard (1920): Some aspects of the indigo industry in Bihar. Mem. Dept. Agr. India, 11: 1-36.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Matthaei, Gabrielle
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Matthaei, Gabrielle Louise Caroline (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British plant physiologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1930
Place of death Genoa