James Bonner

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James Frederick Bonner (born September 1, 1910 in Ansley (Nebraska) , † September 13, 1996 ) was an American biologist (biochemistry, biophysics, plant physiology).

Bonner's father Walter Daniel Bonner was a chemistry professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, among others. Bonner studied chemistry and mathematics at the University of Utah and Caltech , where he studied with Thomas Hunt Morgan and Theodosius Dobzhansky , whose assistant he became. In 1931 he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Utah. In 1934 he received his doctorate with Alfred Sturtevant at Caltech, but completed his dissertation with the plant physiologists Kenneth V. Thimann , Frits Warmolt Went and Herman E. Dolk . He then worked in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands (with Hugo Rudolph Kruyt in Utrecht and in Leiden) and in Switzerland with Albert Frey-Wyssling . On his return in 1935 he became a Research Fellow at Caltech, 1936 Instructor, 1937 Assistant Professor, 1943 Associate Professor and 1946 Professor. In 1981 he retired and then founded the Phytogen company.

He has made over 500 publications. He researched growth hormones in plants, pectins and cell walls of plants (with Frey-Wyssling he discovered that auxins loosen the cell walls), vitamins for root growth, wound hormones, and the physiology of flowering ( photoperiodism ). With Karl Hamner he discovered that the length of the night was decisive for blooming and that it should not be interrupted by periods of light. During World War II and thereafter he studied environmental effects and biochemistry of rubber production (from Guayule during World War II and later with the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia). In the 1950s he made important contributions to the biochemistry of plants (determination of the main component of plant proteins , later identified as RuBisCO ; similar functionality of the mitochondria in plants and animals). From the 1960s he became increasingly interested in molecular biology in general, for example with histones , where he discovered with colleagues that histone IV is almost identical in animals and plants.

He also dealt with the philosophy of science.

He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1950), the Leopoldina (1959), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1960), the American Philosophical Society (1966), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1955) and 1948 / 49 President of the American Association of Plant Physiologists. In 1949/50 he was the Physiology Section of the Botanical Society of America.

He was a passionate mountaineer (who also climbed in the Himalayas) and was active in the National Ski Patrol and the Sierra Club.

In 1972 he received the Tolman Award .

Fonts

  • with AW Galston: Principles of Plant Physiology, Freeman 1952
  • Chapters from my life, Annual Reviews of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, Volume 45, 1994, pp. 1-23
  • with JL Liverman: Hormonal control of flower initiation, in: WE Loomis (Ed.), Growth and differentiation in plants, Arnes, Iowa, 1953 pp. 283-304.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Member entry of James Bonner at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on October 15, 2015.
  2. ^ Member History: James Bonner. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 12, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Historic Fellows of the AAAS: James Bonner. American Association for the Advancement of Science, accessed May 12, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Bonner, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonner, James Frederick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Ansley, Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1996