When was the term "photosynthesis" first coined and the mechanism understood ?

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'In 1893, Charles Barnes, an American botanist, published a paper in the Botanical Gazette proposing the terms "photosyntax" or "photosynthesis" to describe the process by which plants use light to construct carbohydrate molecules. He felt a new term was important to distinguish it from various other processes in living organisms -- processes that had been little understood only a century earlier. But by his time, a wealth of research on these processes had been amassed. The literature on "assimilation" had become confused as a result of the many distinct processes still called by the same term. Community Acceptance While Barnes himself preferred the term "photosyntax," "photosynthesis" was the term that met wider approval. Barnes largely blamed a rival professor in botany, Conway MacMillan, for promoting the use of "photosynthesis" instead of "photosyntax." However, both wielded considerable clout at the time, and it was a preference of a broader population, rather than the work of one man, that ultimately determined which term became standard and which faded into the pages of history.' Read more: What Is the Origin of the Word Photosynthesis? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8741761_origin-word-photosynthesis.html#ixzz25Fz6AXba To complete the derivation: 'Like many modern scientific terms, "photosynthesis" is a word with Greek roots. However, the two Greek words that comprise it -- "photo" and "synthesis" -- never occurred together in ancient Greek. The term was coined in the late 19th century and was intended to replace a more general term, "assimilation," which was used to describe many processes in living organisms in addition to what is now called photosynthesis.' Read more: What Is the Origin of the Word Photosynthesis? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8741761_origin-word-photosynthesis.html#ixzz25Fzgc7cu Sep 01 12, 3:43 PM