Frederick Blackman

Frederick Blackman
Born	Frederick Frost Blackman (1866-07-25)25 July 1866 Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Cambridge
Spouse	Elsie
Awards	Royal Medal
Scientific career
Fields	Botany

Frederick Frost Blackman

Frederick Blackman was born in Lambeth, London to a doctor. He studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, graduating MA. In the subsequent years, he studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge and was awarded DSc.

He conducted research on plant physiology, in particular photosynthesis, in Cambridge until his retirement in 1936.

.

He was buried at the

in Cambridge, with his wife Elsie (1882 - 1967).

Blackman's law of limiting factors

Blackman proposed the law of limiting factors in 1905. According to this law, when a process depends on a number of factors, its rate is limited by the pace of the slowest factor. Blackman's law is illustrated by ${\displaystyle {\ce {C O2}}}$ concentration as a limiting factor in the rate of oxygen production in photosynthesis:

Suppose a leaf is exposed to a certain light intensity which can use 5 mg. of ${\displaystyle {\ce {C O2}}}$ per hour in photosynthesis. If only 1 mg. of ${\displaystyle {\ce {C O2}}}$ enters the leaf in an hour, the rate of photosynthesis is limited due to ${\displaystyle {\ce {C O2}}}$ factor. But as the concentration of the ${\displaystyle {\ce {C O2}}}$ increases from 1 to 5 mg./hour the rate of photosynthesis is also increased.

Works

"Experimental researches in vegetable assimilation and respiration":

• 1895: "On a new method for investigating the carbonic acid exchanges of plants",
  doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a090729
• 1895: "On the paths of gaseous exchange between areal leaves and the atmosphere", Annals of Botany
• 1895: (with
  Gabrielle Matthaei
  ) "On the effect of temperature on carbon dioxide assimilation"
• 1905: (with Gabrielle Matthaei) A Quantitative Study of Carbon Dioxide Assimilation and Leaf Temperature in Natural Illumination, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society at London via
  Jstor
• 1905: "Optima and Limiting Factors", Annals of Botany,
  doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a089000

See also

• Dorothea Pertz

References

Further reading

• Briggs, G.E. (1970–1980). "Blackman, Frederick Frost".
  ISBN 978-0-684-10114-9
  .

External links

• Frederick Blackman at Find a Grave