With his typical sense of humor, David wrote at the end of his paper with Tom: “In advocating the virtues of the oxygen electrode we would not wish to convey the impression they are yet entirely foolproof. They are like the legendary little girl in that when they are good they are very, very good; but, when they are bad they are horrid.” (Delieu and Walker 1972). David linked up with John Humby, the result of which was a long and fruitful
LY2109761 concentration collaboration in marketing apparatus through Hansatech Instruments. In the early 1980s, David had Tom construct an instrument that would measure oxygen in the gas phase, which became the leaf disc electrode (where light response of photosynthesis and maximum quantum yields can be readily analyzed). Polarographic equipment was also further developed to simultaneously
analyze O2 evolution and the fate of energy absorbed by PSII by chlorophyll fluorescence. These instruments stimulated a great deal of new research around the world and led to the establishment of the “gold standard” for the quantum yield of C3 photosynthesis in vivo (Björkman and Demmig LY3023414 price 1987). Two important scientific meetings flowed from these developments. Peter Horton, in reflecting on the truly immense contributions David made to photosynthesis research at Sheffield, recalls an exciting event from the early days of the Hill Laboratory when he convened a symposium with the title, “What Limits Photosynthesis?”, a question which is still largely unanswered in many respects and very pertinent to all the renewed interest in “improving photosynthesis”. David
later organized a Royal Society discussion meeting in London on “New Vistas in Measurement of Photosynthesis” that brought together these and other technical advances for measurement of photosynthesis in vivo (Walker 1989; Walker and Osmond 1989). (See http://www.hansatech-instruments.com/nostalgia.htm; Delieu and Walker 1981, 1983; Walker 1987, 1992a, b, 1997, 2003a.) Major books and making science accessible to the public David made major, lasting contributions in his writings about very photosynthesis and its relevance to mankind, not only for scientists, but in forms that were readily accessible and appealing to people of all ages and at all levels of scientific sophistication (Fig. 2). Fig. 2 Illustrations of types of books and the Pub understanding of science by David Walker. Visit: http://www.hansatech-instruments.com/david_walker.htm for free download including (i). Books on photosynthesis: ‘Global Climate Change’, ‘Energy, Plants and Man; Like Clockwork’; ‘C3, C4′. (ii). ‘A Leaf in Time‘; Spanish translation of ‘A Leaf in Time‘; ‘A New Leaf in Time’. (iii.) Technical Manual: ‘The use of the Oxygen Electrode and Fluorescence Probes in simple measurements of Photosynthesis’. (iv). PowerPoint Presentations: ‘Starch Pictures‘; ‘The Z-scheme‘. (v.