1980 EPILOGUE CHAP. 38 



more than a complicated jigsaw puzzle can be solved by the fitting of a 

 single bit, however large, into its proper position. 



Since photosynthesis is the source of all our food and fuel, the progress 

 in its elucidation is followed with great interest by the public, which, in 

 our time, has become aware of the limitations the supply of these commodi- 

 ties imposes on the material progress of the rapidly expanding human race. 

 Every time absolution" of photosynthesis is announced, the press indulges 

 in the description of the great relief this discovery is likely to bring to the 

 food and fuel hunger of the world. The hope that research on photo- 

 synthesis will provide a spectacular solution of one of the gravest — if not 

 the gravest — difficulty that confronts mankind, is one of the reasons why 

 this research has fomid public encouragement to the extent usually re- 

 served only for problems of great practical significance. 



It is only to be hoped that the public opinion will not be too disappointed 

 by the probable failure of photosynthetic research to lead, in any foresee- 

 able future, to a marked alleviation of the world's food and fuel shortages. 

 The understanding is as yet sadly deficient in the public opinion — as well 

 as in national leadership of most countries — of the way science progresses, 

 and of its relation to technology. The progress of science occurs by probing 

 in various directions, in which many scientists from different countries, 

 take part, motivated by an urge to understand nature; and only to a much 

 lesser extent by competitive efforts, spurred by a desire to obtain immediate 

 solutions of practical difficulties. The prevailing public attitude that 

 science is to be judged by its practical dividends, exposes research workers 

 in fields such as photosynthesis to the temptation at least to abet — if not 

 to encourage — excessive hopes and claims put out on their behalf by the 

 press; and not all scientists successfully resist this temptation. 



The study of photosynthesis is certain to lead to important insights 

 into the fundamental processes of life; and out of these insights, there are 

 certain to arise many at present unpredictable consequences for better 

 agricultural or industrial processes, including perhaps ways for substan- 

 tially enhancing the efficiency of solar energy conversion by plants. In 

 this sense, the public interest in the study of photosynthesis is not mis- 

 placed, and the funds invested in it will not be wasted. But if mankind 

 is ever to become independent from plants in the utilization of solar energy 

 for making food or fuel, this emancipation is not likely to come directly 

 from the elucidation of the complex mechanism of photosynthesis, or its 

 successful reproduction outside the living cell. The utilization of solar 

 energy for heat and 'power is much more likely to come from new processes 

 as different from natural photosynthesis as industrial combustion of fuel 

 is different from cellular respiration; and as to the food the most reasonable 

 hopes in this area he, for the time being, not in "artificial photosynthesis," 



