A Lab for All Seasons

“One of the strengths of this pathbreaking book is the way Kingsland points to interesting questions about the history of plant physiological ecology and its relevance for global ecology. She makes a compelling case that understanding the interactions of plants with the environment is crucial for meeting the challenges of global climate change.”–Joel B. Hagen, Journal of the History of Biology

“Timely… . A testament to the critical importance of plant sciences in our health and well-being and will be of great interest to historians of technology and biology, scientific practitioners, and policymakers alike… . Kingsland has begun an exciting and essential conversation.”–Sara A. Tridenti, FASEB Journal

“Well written and carefully researched… . Kingsland highlights that scientists often sought to ‘synthesize’ conflicting views rather than fight them out–which is a welcome and timely reminder.”–Kärin Nickelsen, Isis

“Sharon Kingsland has provided a brilliant, incisive, and wonderfully original account of the development of our understanding of plant evolution in a physiological context.”–Peter Raven, author of Driven by Nature: A Personal Journey from Shanghai to Botany and Global Sustainability

“An exceptionally thorough, readable and enjoyable study of plant science’s embrace of the phytotron, unpacking its significance in the making of physiological ecology.”–Dominic Berry, coeditor of Narrative Science: Reasoning, Representing and Knowing since 1800

“A unique and wide-ranging history of the excitement, high expectations, big science, and interdisciplinary research in plant physiological ecology in the post-World War II era, which were kick-started by the development of the phytotron.”–E. A. Johnson, University of Calgary

“An engaging narrative through historian’s eyes of the emergence of plant ecophysiology–an interplay of ideas, of careers and ambitions, and of phytotrons bringing people and disciplines together.”–Mark Westoby, Macquarie University

Sharon Kingsland is professor emerita in the Department of History of Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of two previous books and has coedited two essay collections. She lives in Baltimore, MD.