Govindjee at 80: more than 50 years of free energy for photosynthesis

Abstract

We provide here a glimpse of Govindjee and his pioneering contributions on the two light reactions and the two pigment systems, particularly on the waterplastoquinone oxido-reductase, Photosystem II. His focus has been on excitation energy transfer; primary photochemistry, and the role of bicarbonate in electron and proton transfer. His major tools have been kinetics and spectroscopy (absorption and fluorescence), and he has provided an understanding of both thermoluminescence and delayed light emission in plants and algae. He pioneered the use of lifetime of fluorescence measurements to study the phenomenon of photoprotection in plants and algae. He, however, is both a generalist and a specialist all at the same time. He communicates very effectively his passion for photosynthesis to the novice as well as professionals. He has been a prolific author, outstanding lecturer and an editor par excellence.

Prasanna K. Mohanty (1934–2013): a great photosynthetiker and a wonderful human being who touched the hearts of many

“…Figure 3A shows a photograph of Prasanna with Govindjee (his mentor), George Papageorgiou and Julian Eaton-Rye, also former graduate students at UIUC (see Eaton-Rye 2013). Figure 3B is with his former student Udaya Biswal and Fig.…”

“…Acknowledgments We thank Savita (one name only), supported by Department of Biotechnology Grant (DBT grant 102/IFD/SAN/2002/ 2013-2014 to ST, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University), for her secretarial help. More than forty people helped us prepare this Tribute and we thank them all; and George C. Papageorgiou read, and corrected, the final version of this tribute before it was uploaded for publication.…”

Biology and biotechnological applications of microalgae and photosynthetic prokaryotes: part 2

“…Govindjee and I carried out a number of research projects on water oxidation and artificial photosynthesis together (see e.g. Najafpour and Govindjee 2011;Najafpour, Tabrizi, et al 2012, 2013, and, at the same time, critically evaluated the chemistry of water oxidation and its future directions (see e.g. Najafpour, Moghaddam, et al 2012, 2013Hou et al 2014).…”

Microalgal hydrogen production: prospects of an essential technology for a clean and sustainable energy economy

“…In this sense, much research in artificial photocatalytic water splitting is being performed (Abdelaziz et al 2013; Eaton-Rye 2013; Ismail and Bahnemann 2014; Barber 2016; Acar et al 2016). This technology consists of metallic catalysts that absorb light and create charge separation, which can be used as oxidizing and reducing power for water splitting and H 2 production.…”