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1450
Jan Baptista van Helmont
Demonstrated that most material in a plants body does not come from soil; he suggested it came from water -
Stephen Hales
Suggested plants get some nourishment from air -
Joseph Priestley
Showed that plants could ‘restore’ air injured (by respiration) -
Jan Ingenhousz
‘injured air’ and that only the green parts do this; all parts of plants "injure" air, ie. respire -
Jean Senebier
Oxygen discovered and named "restored air". Carbon dioxide discovered and identified as "injured air" -
Julius von Sachs
Discovered plant respiration, and that chlorophyll is found in chloroplasts; showed that starch grains form during photosynthesis, and that plants take in and use minerals from the soil; showed that minerals were required for making chlorophyll -
Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann
Showed that oxygen was produced by chloroplasts, and that red and blue light are the most important wavelengths for photosynthesis