Evening star., 1951-10-10
Energy Of Sunshine
Con RevoIutionize Life
Public Health Studies
Verge on the Momentous
By Thomas z. Henry


hardly could be exaggerated-may come
from experiments Just reported to the
American Association for the Advance
ment Of Science by Drs. Dean Burk and
Jerome Cornfield Of the United States
Public Health Service and Martin
Schwartz Of the University Of Wisconsin.
It has been rumored for some months
that these men were on the verge Of q
momentous discovery-equal in signifl-
canoe to the discovery Of the fission Of
uranium in 1899 which led directly to
the atomic bomb and to hopes for an
"atomic age" which now appear to be
rapidly fading. A month ago 50 eminent
an authority as President Conant Of
Harvard, addressing the American
Chemical Society, threw cold water on
the likelihood Of getting much more out
of the atom and predicted that mans
future hinged on better utilization Of
sunshine. This line Of thinking, it may
be stressed here, has been shared for
some time by some Of the most eminent
thinkers in American science. They per-
haps were influenced partially by reports
they had heard of the progress being
made by DR.. Burk and his associates.
full preliminary report Of the work
now has been published in the Scientific
Monthly. official journal Of the associa-
ton. It is extremely complicated and
described largely in mathematical terms
which cannot readily be translated into
ordinary language.
The findings deal with photosynthe-
sis. the cornerstone of all life on earth.
It is the process by which plants con-
vert carbon dioxide from the air and
water from the soil into carbohydrates
-starches, sugars, cellulose and the
like-which constitute the basic food Of
all living things. This is accomplished
through utilizing the energy of sunshine
by means Of chlorophyl, the green pig
ment In leaves.
The process involves the liberation
from each molecule Of water Of one
atom Of oxygen.
This process goes on continuously all
over the earth where vegetation is pos
sible. 1t never has been completely
understood. Previous efforts to follow
the process have ended in paradoxes
The experiments Of DR.. Burk and his
associates demonstrate that, under Ger
tain ideal conditions. at least one step
Of the process-the release of the oxy-
gen from water which Is basic to every
thing else-can be made very close to
100 per cent efficient
Next steps necessarily are up to en-
gineers. chemists. biologists and physi-
cists all over the world. The work here
represents at least as great an advance
towards complete utilization Of solar
- .Srx1,~ ~ -
did toward atomic energy.
The findings Of DR.. Burk and his
associates resulted from rapid alterna-
tions Of periods of darkness and intense
illumination. Per Sc, they probably are
not of much immediate practical i'm
portance. The great significance Of the
work is that it goes most Of the way in
solving the riddle Of photosynthesis
itself. With this understanding in the
possession Of scientists. the possibilities
are infinite.
Long History Behind It.
Back Of the present work Is q long
history. Some years before the war the
photosynthetic process was studied in
tensively by the German biochemist Otto
Warburg at the KAISER Wilhelm Insti-
Prize for his work. But he ran into
paradox. for apparently. according to his
findings, the process was impossible
without about three times as much
energy per quanta of light as was
possessed by any form Of visible light.
The required energy was contained only
in certain very short wavelengths of in
visible ultraviolet light. Yet it occurred
in visible light, and ultraviolet appeared
to have little to do with it. It seemed
obvious that it must proceed by num-
Der of stages each of which required less
energy.
Mr. Warburg went into consultation
with the worlds most eminent theoreti-
cal physicist. Prof. Albert Einstein. The
latter was equally puzzled by process
which seemed to contradict the laws Of
physics.
Then Mr.. Warburg's work was inter-
rupted by the war. But in 1948 he came
to the University Of Illinois, where he
headed a team Of investigators with the
object of solving the problem once for
all. The effort, however. ended in dis
agreement among the workers.
Then the great German biochemist re-
ceived an appointment at the National
Institute of Health of the United States
Public Health Service. He was associ-
ated with the National Cancer Institute.
Another paradox of the whole story is
that the discovery should have come
from an organization devoted to so diff
ferent a purpose, but such has been the
story of science from the beginning.
Here Mr.. Warburg became associated
with Drs. Burk and Cornfield and, for
the first time, established his thesis of a
four-step photosyntheSis which he had
originally proposed as theory in his
conferences with Einstein. The work
was continued to its present status.
Say the authors of the report: The
findings regarding "the conditions nee
essary for maximum efficiency at both
high and low light intensities present
many interesting possibilities for prac-
tical application. Engineering methods
of food production may be developed to
make far more efficient use of solar
radiation by utilizing some form Of In
termittent illumination along lines sug-
gested in this report.
Vast Source Of Energy.
AN understanding Of the basic mech.
anism OF photosynthesis holds promise
not only Of increasing food production
per unit of light but Of the utilization
OF solar energy in many other ways.
Thus it might be possible to break water
down directly into hydrogen gas with
sunlight. Such q process would eliminate
mankind'S present dependence m ex.