The article "New Gene Technologies Could Reap Rich Floral Harvest" [The Scientist, Aug. 20, 1990, page 8] tells us that "A discipline that flourished for 30 years after plant hormones were first discovered in the 1920s, plant biology languished for a generation (my emphasis) until the late 1970s, when molecular techniques were first applied to plant systems." To me, this statement reflects either na9ve ignorance of recent history or a type of "molecular arrogance" based on the premise that the only significant advances in biology lie in the molecular field.
Here are a few significant findings from that "barren and unproductive" generation ending in the late 1970s, drawn only from my field of plant growth and development:
This list could be extended quickly by venturing into such fields as photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and the cultivation of single cells and protoplasts.
