December 8 - Happy Birthday, Jan Ingenhousz

  Posted on December 8, 2021

This is an update of my post published on December 8, 2010:

The Dutch scientist Jan Ingenhousz (1730-1799) discovered photosynthesis and also discovered that plants, like animals, have cellular respiration. Those are major, major discoveries—but not what he was best known for in his own lifetime. His claims to fame back then were:

(1) his successful inoculation of the royal Habsburg family of Austria - a kind of vaccination against the dreadful and deadly smallpox disease, and 

(2) his appointment as the doctor of the Empress Maria Theresa.

Ingenhousz did a lot of work in biology and chemistry in at least six different European countries and corresponded many times with an important American, Benjamin Franklin. 

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen. In other words, it is the process by which plants makes their own food!

Actually, plants don't just make their own food—the photosynthesis by plants, some bacteria, and algae creates the basis of almost all food chains and therefore form the foundation of almost all life on earth—providing both food and oxygen for animals.

Check out to Peter Weatherall's song about photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis starts in a plant cell's chloroplasts. The green pigment chlorophyll is crucial to most photosynthesis.

Cellular respiration is pretty much the opposite of photosynthesis. It is the process by which plant and animal cells break down food (such as sugars) in order to obtain energy. The process requires oxygen.

Find out more at Biology 4 Kids. 

Here is a straightforward video about respiration and photosynthesis. 

Respiration occurs inside cells' mitochondria.

To review:

Photosynthesis — carbon dioxide + water + energy (sunlight) = sugar + oxygen

Respiration — sugar + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water + energy (to grow or move or repair cells or reproduce)

Ready for another song - this one about both photosynthesis and cellular respiration? Here it is. 

Also on this date:

Artist Diego Rivera's birthday 

Anniversary of a lemon-squeezing device

Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day

Blessing of the Waters Day in Uruguay

Rock musician Jim Morrison's birthday

Battle of Falkland Islands Day

Constitution Day in Uzbekistan

Mother's Day in Panama

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays 
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December
  
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January
  
  
  

September 16 – Happy Birthday, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Posted on September 16, 2014

• A member of a resistance movement!

• An anti-war protestor!

• Founder of a cancer research organization!

• A Nobel Prize Laureate!

• The guy who discovered Vitamin C!

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, born on this date in 1893 in Hungary, became a physiologist. He worked on trying to understand the chemistry of cellular respiration—the process by which cells “burn” food to create ATP, which is the chemical that cells use for energy.

Along the way, as Szent-Gyorgyi studied organic acids, he determined the structure of L-ascorbic acid, which we commonly call Vitamin C.

Before World War II, Szent-Gyorgyi helped his Jewish friends to escape the country, and during the war he joined the Hungarian resistance movement that agitated against the Nazis who had invaded their country.

When he won a Nobel Prize for his work on cellular recreation and Vitamin C, Szent-Gyorgyi offered all of his prize money to Finland, which had recently been invaded by the Soviet Union.

His science allowed Szent-Gyorgyi to leave post-war communist Hungary; he went to the U.S., and eventually became an American citizen. While living in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, he started the Institute for Muscle Research, and later he started a non-profit organization called the National Foundation for Cancer Research.

In the late 1960s, Szent-Gyorgyi protested the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and he urged other people to take a stand against the war as well.

I like that Szent-Gyorgyi was involved in politics as well as science. He seems like the kind of principled man we need more of...

Celebrate Szent-Gyorgyi!

...by learning more about cellular respiration. Try this video. 

Also on this date:

Stay Away from Seattle Day

Anne Bradstreet Day 

Mexico's Independence Day (El Grito)

Glyndwr Day in Wales

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• September holidays
• September birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in September
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for

• October holidays
• October birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in October

December 8, 2010

Happy Birthday, Jan Ingenhousz 

This Dutch scientist discovered photosynthesis and also discovered that plants, like animals, have cellular respiration. Those are major, major discoveries—but not what he was best known for in his own lifetime. His claims to fame were his successful inoculation of the royal Habsburg family of Austria and his post as the doctor of the Empress Maria Theresa.

Ingenhousz did a lot of work in biology and chemistry in at least six different European countries and met an important American, Benjamin Franklin. 

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen. In other words, it is the process by which plants makes their own food!

Actually, plants don't just make their own food—the photosynthesis of plants, some bacteria, and algae creates the basis of almost all food chains and therefore form the foundation of almost all life on earth—providing both food and oxygen for animals.

Find out more at Kidipede and Real Trees 4 Kids. 

Also, listen to Peter Weatherall's song about photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis starts in chloroplasts inside plant cells.

Cellular respiration is pretty much the opposite of photosynthesis. It is the process by which plant and animal cells break down food (such as sugars) in order to obtain energy. The process requires oxygen.

Find out more at Biology 4 Kids. 

Here is a straightforward video about respiration and photosynthesis. 

Respiration occurs inside cells' mitochondria.

To review:

Photosynthesis — carbon dioxide + water + energy (sunlight) = sugar + oxygen

Respiration — sugar + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water + energy (to grow or move or repair cells or reproduce)

Ready for one more song about both photosynthesis and cellular respiration? Here it is.