Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(39):15757–15762PubMed”
“The special issues in volumes 116 and 117 of Photosynthesis Research are all dedicated to BI 2536 molecular weight Photosynthesis Education. They honor Professor Govindjee, at his 80th birthday on October 24, 2013, for his contributions, dedication, and enthusiasm about photosynthesis, for which he has been called “Mr. Photosynthesis”. He is a master educator of
our time. The depth of his knowledge and understanding of all aspects of photosynthesis, “From Photons to a Leaf” is enormous. He is also the de facto Ambassador of Photosynthesis to the rest of the World. Govindjee, as he prefers to be called, is a renowned scientist who has made outstanding and significant contributions to photosynthesis research and education. Govindjee has authored or co-authored
more than 400 publications which EX-527 have brought understanding to many aspects of photosynthesis (for a list since 1994, see his webpage at: http://www.life.illinois.edu/govindjee/recent_papers.html). This includes, most dramatically, his work on exploitation of light emission (chlorophyll fluorescence, delayed fluorescence and thermoluminescence) of plants and algae for understanding photosynthesis. In cooperation with his co-workers, he showed a unique role of bicarbonate in the electron and proton flow on the electron acceptor side of Photosystem II (PSII), and, in his early work on the minimum quantum requirement of oxygen evolution, he proved that Nobel-Laureate Otto Warburg was wrong Interleukin-2 receptor and that his own professor Robert Emerson was right: i.e. a minimum of 8–12 photons, not 3–4, is required for the evolution of one oxygen molecule. His research, with
many collaborators, included the discovery of a short-wavelength form of chlorophyll (Chl) a functioning in the Chl b-containing system, now called PS II, and of the two-light effects in Chl a fluorescence and NADP reduction in chloroplasts. Further, again, with his coworkers, he check details discovered the existence of different spectral fluorescing forms of Chl a, was the first to measure the temperature dependence of excitation energy transfer down to liquid helium temperature (4 K), the first to provide the current theory for thermoluminescence in plants, and the first to make picosecond measurements of the primary photochemistry of PSII. Equally important, Govindjee has played a key role in global dissemination of research through collaboration with scientists all over the world, and through his lucid lectures on the basics of photosynthesis, as well as on the history of “Photosynthesis Research”. A major characteristic of Govindjee is his availability to help anyone and everyone who writes to him; always ready to respond to emails that he receives.