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Photosynthesis Quotes

Browse 27 quotes about Photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis Quotes

“That all plants immediately and substantially stem from the element water alone I have learnt from the following experiment. I took an earthern vessel in which I placed two hundred pounds of earth dried in an oven, and watered with rain water. I planted in it a willow tree weighing five pounds. Five years later it had developed a tree weighing one hundred and sixty-nine pounds and about three ounces. Nothing but rain (or distilled water) had been added. The large vessel was placed in earth and covered by an iron lid with a tin-surface that was pierced with many holes. I have not weighed the leaves that came off in the four autumn seasons. Finally I dried the earth in the vessel again and found the same two hundred pounds of it diminished by about two ounces. Hence one hundred and sixty-four pounds of wood, bark and roots had come up from water alone. (1648) [A diligent experiment that was quantitatively correct only as far as it goes. He overlooked the essential role of air and photosynthesis in the growth process]”

LightEarthScienceEnergySunBiologyPlantsExperimentPhotosynthesis
Author:Jan Baptist van Helmont
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“There is a bench in the back of my garden shaded by Virginia creeper, climbing roses, and a white pine where I sit early in the morning and watch the action. Light blue bells of a dwarf campanula drift over the rock garden just before my eyes. Behind it, a three-foot stand of aconite is flowering now, each dark blue cowl-like corolla bowed for worship or intrigue: thus its common name, monkshood. Next to the aconite, black madonna lilies with their seductive Easter scent are just coming into bloom. At the back of the garden, a hollow log, used in its glory days for a base to split kindling, now spills white cascade petunias and lobelia. I can't get enough of watching the bees and trying to imagine how they experience the abundance of, say, a blue campanula blosssom, the dizzy light pulsing, every fiber of being immersed in the flower. ... Last night, after a day in the garden, I asked Robin to explain (again) photosynthesis to me. I can't take in this business of _eating light_ and turning it into stem and thorn and flower... I would not call this meditation, sitting in the back garden. Maybe I would call it eating light. Mystical traditions recognize two kinds of practice: _apophatic mysticism_, which is the dark surrender of Zen, the Via Negativa of John of the Cross, and _kataphatic mysticism_, less well defined: an openhearted surrender to the beauty of creation. Maybe Francis of Assissi was, on the whole, a kataphatic mystic, as was Thérèse of Lisieux in her exuberant momemnts: but the fact is, kataphatic mysticism has low status in religious circles. Francis and Thérèse were made, really made, any mother superior will let you know, in the dark nights of their lives: no more of this throwing off your clothes and singing songs and babbling about the shelter of God's arms. When I was twelve and had my first menstrual period, my grandmother took me aside and said, 'Now your childhood is over. You will never really be happy again.' That is pretty much how some spiritual directors treat the transition from kataphatic to apophatic mysticism. But, I'm sorry, I'm going to sit here every day the sun shines and eat this light. Hung in the bell of desire.”

SpiritualityZenMysticismSaintsGardensMenstruationPhotosynthesisApophaticKataphatic
Book:The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd
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“One of the skills of a journalist, though, is to find people who can teach him what he needs to know. So instead of taking courses, I've been very lucky in that I found teachers - scientists, especially - who were willing to teach me what I needed to know, whether it was about genetically modified crops or how photosynthesis works, and so on. I just find my teachers and don't have to pay for my education.”

PeopleKnowsNeedsCoursesFoundPayTeachTeacherWillingNeededLuckySkillsScientistJournalistCropsGenetically ModifiedPhotosynthesis
Author:Michael Pollan
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“Nature has put itself the problem how to catch in flight light streaming to the earth and to store the most elusive of all powers in rigid form. To achieve this aim, it has covered the crust of earth with organisms which in their life processes absorb the light of the sun and use this power to produce a continuously accumulating chemical difference. ... The plants take in one form of power, light; and produce another power, chemical difference.”

UseProblemLightEarthFormProcessDifferencesSunAchieveProduceAimPlantStoresFlightCoveredChemicalsOrganismsElusiveStreamingPhotosynthesis
Author:Robert Mayer
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“We can look at the way of improving the key biochemical processes like photosynthesis itself. A lot of energy is lost to keep the plant cool. So maybe we can think of building plants which are more resistant to heat. Genetically modified plants can be one answer and we can imagine more efficient plants, call them 'energy plants'. And I believe, contrary to what ecologists think, they can still be beautiful plants.”

ThinkingWayBelieveLooksStillsBeautifulEnergyLostI BelieveProcessAnswersImagineBuildingKeysPlantContraryHeatEfficientImprovingGenetically ModifiedPhotosynthesis
Author:Jean-Marie Lehn
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“In nature the only source of energy is from the sun. So in ecological systems everything comes from the sun through the process of photosynthesis whereas now in human built environment our source of energy is from fossil fuels, renewable, wood energy or hydro-energy but it is not from the sun. So until we are able to operate and run a human built environment by imitating photosynthesis it will be a long while before we can have a true eco-system.”

HumansLongRunningAbleEnergyProcessSunEnvironmentSourceBuiltWoodsFuelFossilsFossil FuelEcologicalImitatingEcoPhotosynthesisBuilt Environment
Author:Ken Yeang
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“If you don't understand how something works, never mind: just give up and say God did it. You don't know how the nerve impulse works? Good! You don't understand how memories are laid down in the brain? Excellent! Is photosynthesis a bafflingly complex process? Wonderful! Please don't go to work on the problem, just give up, and appeal to God.”

IfsKnowsGivingMindProblemProcessMemoriesBrainKnow HowWonderfulPleaseGiving UpComplexesAppealsImpulseExcellentNervesJust Give UpPhotosynthesis
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“Four elements, Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, also provide an example of the astonishing togetherness of our universe. They make up the "organic" molecules that constitute living organisms on a planet, and the nuclei of these same elements interact to generate the light of its star. Then the organisms on the planet come to depend wholly on that starlight, as they must if life is to persist. So it is that all life on the Earth runs on sunlight. [Referring to photosynthesis]”

IfsLifeLightRunningEarthScienceLife IsUniverseStarsFourExamplePlanetsDependsElementsSunlightPersistOrganismsCarbonOxygenTogethernessAstonishingMoleculesReferringHydrogenStarlightNucleusLiving OrganismsNitrogenPhotosynthesisFour Elements
Author:George Wald
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“Originally, the atoms of carbon from which we're made were floating in the air, part of a carbon dioxide molecule. The only way to recruit these carbon atoms for the molecules necessary to support life-the carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins, and lipids-is by means of photosynthesis. Using sunlight as a catalyst the green cells of plants combine carbon atoms taken from the air with water and elements drawn from the soil to form the simple organic compounds that stand at the base of every food chain. It is more than a figure of speech to say that plants create life out of thin air.”

WayMeanMadeFormWaterSimpleSupportTakenAirFiguresSpeechElementsGreenPlantChainsCellsSoilAtomsSunlightCarbonFloatingAcidCompoundsMoleculesProteinCatalystCarbon DioxideRecruitOrigin Of LifeFood ChainThin AirCarbohydratesAmino AcidsFigures Of SpeechPhotosynthesisOrganic Compounds
Book:The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World
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