Researched
Photosynthesis discovered
Jan Ingenhousz showed in 1779 that green plants renew air only in sunlight; later work found they build sugar from carbon dioxide and water.
Open in the interactive tree →Joseph Priestley had found in the 1770s that plants restore air in which a candle had burned out; Ingenhousz added that light and the green parts are needed. In 1804 Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure showed that plants take up carbon dioxide and water.
Prerequisites
- Scientific Method~1600-1620
- Vacuum Pumps & Gas Laws1643-1662
Unlocks
- Keeling curve (CO2 record)1958The yearly swing in the CO2 curve is plants taking up the gas by photosynthesis
- Artificial PhotosynthesisopenArtificial photosynthesis copies the plant process of making fuel from light, water and CO2
- C4 rice / better photosynthesisopenBoosting rice yield means improving how plants turn light, CO2 and water into sugar
- Yield jump from C4 crops2040s?A yield jump from better photosynthesis rests on knowing how leaves fix carbon