Preliminary Material

Julius Sachs (1868): The father of plant physiology

“…During his tenure as lecturer (and later as professor) at the Agricultural College in Bonn (or more specifically, Poppelsdorf), the 33-year-old botanist synthesized "old findings with new facts" by publishing his Handbuch der Experimental-Physiologie der Pflanzen, wherein Sachs described experimental methods and their interpretation of physiological phenomena in purely physiochemical terms. In contrast to almost all of his predecessors, Sachs completely ignored the then-popular idea of vital forces (Lebenskraft) and emerged as the first naturalistic experimentalist and theorizer in what developed into experimental plant research (Pringsheim, 1932;Gimmler, 1984;Gimmler et al, 2003;Gimmler and Masuda, 2001;Kutschera and Baluska, 2015). Only 3 years later, Sachs, then a professor at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, published his famous Lehrbuch der Botanik, wherein he integrated his experience as a researcher with that of a gifted academic teacher.…”

“…45 years. The inscription reads "Freiburg, August 22, 1868, Prof. Dr. J. Sachs" (adapted from Pringsheim, 1932;and Gimmler et al, 2003). Shown to the right is Sachs with three of his students: Hugo de Vries, Josef Schuch, and Josef von Baranetzky.…”

“…As a result, in later years, Sachs had to use drugs to get up early in the morning and to fall asleep late in the night to fulfill his professional obligations as a world-class research scientist and brilliant academic teacher. After several years of painful ill health, Julius von Sachs died on 29 May 1897 in Würzburg, four months before his 65th birthday (Pringsheim, 1932;Gimmler, 1984;Gimmler et al, 2003;Hoextermann, 2001).…”

“…In addition, Sachs improved upon or invented many of the devices that have been prominent in plant science laboratories, as for example, the auxanometer for automatically recording growth processes, hand spectrophotometers for measuring the light absorbed through leaves, the clinostat for compensating for gravity, and thermostatic boxes for inducing unilateral illumination. Additional examples of his influence are the use of the I 2 -KI test to detect starch and the gas bubble method to demonstrate the formation of oxygen during photosynthesis in aquatic plants, both of which are still used in teaching laboratories around the world (Gimmler et al, 2003). Moreover, Sachs was one of the first physiologists and academic teachers to draw Wandtafeln (large posters) for the illustration of general botanical processes and principles.…”