1) I have looked through a lot of current and old textbooks and found
Engelmann's famous experiment in many of them but no name for the
bacteria. While most say the alga was Spirogyra, a German site on the
web[ http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e24/2.htm ]says it was
Cladophora! So far I have not found the name of the bacteria.
2) I have found these references to Engelmann's papers but have not
read any of them: Engelmann T.-W. : Nouveau réactif pour l'oxygène
émis par les organismes végétaux et animaux.Annales agronomiques, 1882,
8 : 461-462.
Engelmann T.-W. : Du dégagement de l'oxygène par les cellules végétales
dans un spectre solaire microscopique.Annales agronomiques, 1882, 8: 463-466.
Engelmann T.-W. : Couleur et assimilation.Annales agronomiques, 1883, 9: 78-84.
Engelmann T.-W. : La couleur des feuilles colorées autrement qu'en vert
et sa signification dans l'assimilation de carbone.Annales agronomiques,
1887, 13 : 477-479.
Surely one or more of these papers will have the answer.
3) Govindjee and Gest. 2002. Celebrating the millennium - historical
highlights of photosynthesis research. Photosynthesis Research 73: pp
1-6.
[http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:l-NafyVqOMUJ:www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee/Part1/Part1_Govindjee_Gest.pdf+Engelmann+1882&hl=en&start=38&ie=UTF-8]
recommend the following book for the early history of photosynthesis:
'Photosynthesis' by Eugene Rabinowitch (Interscience Publishers, New
York, 1945.
4) A timeline of experimental biology from the Pasteur Institute has
this entry for 1882: 1882 Wilhelm Theodor Engelmann (1843 - Berlin 1909)
in purple bacteria discovers that red light (complementary to the green
hue of plants) is the most effective in photosynthesis. His experimental
method is one of the most elegant ever conceived (Archiv für
Physiologie, 1883).
I apologize for not finding the name of the bacteria but perhaps this
will be of some use! I think many Plant Ed folks would like to know what
you discover, Kathleen.
Dave Kramer *********************
David W. Kramer, Ph.D.
Asst. Prof. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
Ohio State University at Mansfield
1680 University Drive
Mansfield, OH 44906-1547
Phone: (419) 755-4344 FAX: (419) 755-4367
e-mail: kramer.8 at osu.eduhttp://www.mansfield.ohio-state.edu/~dkramer/
> Dear Plant Ed Folks,
> I have been thinking about Engleman's famous experiment with
> Spirogyra,
> where he demonstrated the wavelengths of light that were used by
> photosynthesis. He shined a spectrum of light onto the filaments, and
>> then
> recorded where oxygen-seeking bacteria congregated due to
> photosynthetic
> oxygen production. Does anyone know what the bacteria were that he
> used? The sources I've consulted so far don't identify them.
> Kathleen Archer
>> ******************************
> Kathleen Archer
> Dept. Biology
> Trinity College
> Hartford, CT 06106
> Ph: (860)297-2226
>kathleen.archer at mail.trincoll.edu> *******************************
>> ---
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