In Memoriam

 

Daniel Arnon

(1910-1994)

Daniel I. Arnon spent his entire career at UC Berkeley. He was a leading figure in photosynthesis research for the latter half of the 20th century. He and his coworkers discovered the processes of cyclic and noncyclic photophosphorylation and the function of isolated chloroplasts in carrying out complete photosynthesis. He elucidated the role of ferredoxin in electron transport, and identified the reverse citric acid cycle for carbon dioxide fixation.
Earlier, Arnon derived methods for measuring chlorophyll that continue to be used worldwide. He identified molybdenum as a required nutrient for plants -- research stemming from his doctoral studies with Dennis R. Hoagland. Their joint efforts provided the basic formula for a nutrient solution, Hoagland's solution, used worldwide for the hydroponic cultivation of plants.
Arnon received many honors, including the National Medal of Science and membership in the National Academy of Sciences, Swedish Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina and Spanish Biochemical Society (Honorary). He was a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The department sponsors a graduate fellowship and annual lecture in his honor.

Donald Kaplan

(1938-2007)

Donald Kaplan studied fundamental structural and developmental commonalities that underpin plant form across different groups of plants: algae, bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms.
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University in 1960, majoring in biology. He earned a Ph.D. in botany at UC Berkeley in 1965 and spent the following year as a postdoctoral scholar at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. Kaplan then joined UC Irvine as one of the founding faculty members of organismal biology. In 1968, he returned to UC Berkeley where he spent the rest of his academic career.
Kaplan's many honors included the Alexander van Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, the Botanical Society Merit Award and Sigma Xi National Lecturer. A legendary teacher, he received the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award and the Botanical Society's Charles Bessey Botanical Teaching Award. The Botanical Society of America sponsors an annual lecture in his honor at their meetings.