Scientific progress hinges on continual discovery and the extension of previous discoveries. The important series of volumes Discoveries in Plant Biology is specially compiled to provide a microcosmic atlas of the landmark discoveries that span the breadth of plant biology. Written by renowned plant biologists, the papers describe how classic discoveries were made and how they have served as the basis for subsequent breakthroughs.The 19 chapters in this second volume describe discoveries which contribute to the foundations of modern plant biology. The contributors, many of whom personally lit the way, bring readers back in time as if on a journey to retrace the paths and rethink the ideas they followed. These guided tours on how to decipher the natural laws will lead to an appreciation of the development of each field from simple concepts to an advanced multidisciplinary field of today. This volume will be of special interest to botanists, biochemists, plant physiologists and geneticists, and of general interest to those who are still fascinated by how discoveries are made.Contents:The Two Photosystems of Photosynthesis (J Amesz)Discovery of Chloroplast DNA, Genomes and Genes (L Bogorad)The Discovery of the Complete Sequence of Tobacco and Rice Chloroplast Genomes (M Sugiura)Discovery of Promoter Sequences of Chloroplast Genes (S-D Kung)The Discovery of Chloroplast DNA Replication Origin in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii (M Wu)The Discovery of Plant Mitochondrial Genomes (C Chase)The Discovery of Photophosphorylation (Y-K Shen & J-M Wei)Discovery of Phytochrome (W R Briggs)Plant Ferredoxin: A Multifunctional Electron Carrier Protein with an Unusual Genealogy (I Besse & B B Buchanan)Plant Lipid Biosynthesis — A History of Its Elucidation (P K Stumpf)The Discovery of Systemin (C A Ryan)Plant Peroxisomes: Discovery and Current Advances (A H C Huang)The Discovery of the Viroid (T O Diener)The Development of Plant Somatic Cell Genetics (P Carlson)The Discovery of Lignin (T Higuchi)The Discovery of Water Potential (J Dainty)The Discovery of Tissue Culture (Z-H Xu)Integrated Action in Plant Irritability (C-H Lou)The Discovery of the Breeding of Seedless Watermelon (C-H Yu & N N Liang)Readership: Students and researchers in botany, biochemistry, genetics and plant physiology.Key Features:Presents mathematical methods for considering linear waves in dispersive mediaDescribes waves in equilibrium (stable) as well as nonequilibrium (unstable) systems and media, both without (eigenmodes) and with a source (radiation therapy)Describes waves in all important physical systems which are traditional subjects of mechanics of continuous media, plasma physics, electronics, and physical kineticsDiscusses the transition from spontaneous to induced radiation with an increase in the number of emitters, using Cherenkov radiation as an example