Plant hormones in war and peace. Science, industry, and government in the development of herbicides in 1940s America.
This essay describes the emergence of "hormone" herbicides from academic plant physiology research in America in the late 1930s and 1940s, attending especially to the role of interactions between university scientists, industrial concerns, and government (particularly agricultural) agencies. The importance of an intellectual shift among the physiologists to viewing hormones as plant toxins rather than growth stimulators, spurred by wartime events, is discussed. The essay concludes by exploring the postwar marketing of these hormones as agrichemicals and as lawn treatments for suburban consumers, placing these in the economic and ecological context of other contemporary developments in farming technique.
Rasmussen
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School of Science and Technology Studies, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
D016573:Agrochemicals / Q000266:history*; D001694:Biological Warfare / Q000266:history*; D006540:Herbicides / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D014481:United States
D016573:Agrochemicals; D006540:Herbicides