Early American ecologists long lamented the lack of laboratory facilities to support experimental ecology. In the 1940s new funding sources made it possible to create innovative laboratories for the study of whole organisms, which helped spur growth in physiological ecology. Botanists led the way, and these labs became known as “phytotrons”, named after the cyclotrons of physics. We’ll explore the motives behind the creation of the first phytotron at Caltech in 1949, the brainchild of physiologist and ecologist Frits Went, and the worldwide laboratory movement that grew from this model. These labs represent another form of “Big Biology” that preceded the more familiar “Big Ecology” projects of the International Biological Program.


There will be reception at 5PM after her seminar sponsored by the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program.

Here are some of Sharon's work on the history of ecology:

Books:

1995. Sharon E. Kingsland. Modeling nature- episodes in the history of population ecology. University of Chicago Press (2nd edition).

2005.Sharon E. Kingsland. The evolution of American ecology--1890-2000. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Selected Publications
2009 
Sharon E Kingsland
. Frits Went's atomic age greenhouse: the changing labscape on the lab-field border.
Journal of the history of biology 2009;42(2):289-324.

2007 
Sharon E Kingsland. 
Maintaining continuity through a scientific revolution: a rereading of E. B. Wilson and T. H. Morgan on sex determination and Mendelism.
Isis; an international review devoted to the history of science and its cultural influences 2007;98(3):468-88.

2004 
Margaret Palmer; Emily Bernhardt; Elizabeth Chornesky; Scott Collins; Andrew Dobson; Clifford Duke; Barry Gold; Robert Jacobson; Sharon Kingsland; Rhonda Kranz; et al.
 Ecology. Ecology for a crowded planet.
Science (New York, N.Y.) 2004;304(5675):1251-2.

2002. Sharon Kingsland
. Designing nature reserves: adapting ecology to real-world problems.
Endeavour 2002;26(1):9-14.

1994 
S E Kingsland
. Essay review: the history of ecology
Journal of the history of biology 1994;27(373):349-57.

1991 
S E Kingsland. 
Essay review: Science and politics in the nineteenth century.
Journal of the history of biology 1991;24(1):155-61.

1987 
S Kingsland
. Defining American biology: new books in the history of American science. Essay review.
Bulletin of the history of medicine 1987;61(3):462-70.

1986 
S E Kingsland
. Mathematical figments, biological facts: population ecology in the thirties.
Journal of the history of biology 1986;19(2):235-56.

1984 
S Kingsland
. Raymond Pearl: on the frontier in the 1920's. Raymond Pearl memorial lecture, 1983.
Human biology 1984;56(1):1-18.