Spoehr, Herman

Spoehr, Herman

 

Born June 18,1885, in Chicago; died June 21,1954, in Stanford. American botanist.

Spoehr graduated from the University of Chicago in 1906. He was a staff member at the Carnegie Institution in Washington from 1910 to 1929 and a professor at Stanford University from 1929 to 1950. Spoehr’s principal works dealt with photosynthesis and plant respiration. He refuted the theory that formaldehyde was an intermediate product of photosynthesis. Spoehr was one of the first to use tagged atoms in investigating plant metabolism. He initiated work on culturing unicellular algae (Chlorella) for use as food and animal feed.