iv PREFACE 



Prominent also are the studies led by A. J. Kluyver in the Netherlands, 

 and by Yata Haneda and others in Japan. The luminescence of bio- 

 logical systems has now ripened into a fruitful area of general sig- 

 nificance. 



Against this background, in brief, the Committee on Photobiology 

 of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, 

 under the chairmanship of Sterling Hendricks and with the support of 

 the National Science Foundation, recognized the mutual advantages 

 of bringing together a group of leading investigators for a critical 

 appraisal of present knowledge, for the first-hand interchange of ex- 

 periences and ideas, and for the projection of likely approaches 

 to unsolved problems. The conference that resulted was planned to 

 include all aspects of bioluminescence, together with fundamental 

 aspects of chemiluminescence and fluorescence. It was organized by a 

 sub-committee composed of L. R. Blinks, E. N. Harvey, F. H. Johnson 

 (Chairman), W. D. McElroy, and C. E. ZoBell, and it was held at 

 Asilomar, near Pacific Grove, California, March 28-April 2, 1954. The 

 number of participants was restricted, partly because of limitations of 

 available funds, and partly because it was considered that, with the 

 purposes in view, a small group would be most favorable to success. 

 Although the conference was thus restricted, the papers and chief 

 discussions are made available to all who may be interested through 

 the publication of this book. 



The first paper, appropriately presented by Harvey, summarizes 

 some important aspects of the present status of our knowledge of 

 bioluminescence and the outlook for further advances. It includes an 

 invaluable tabulation of all the large groups of animals and plants in 

 which there are luminescent representatives, together with typical 

 genera of luminous organisms, their habitat, the availability of histo- 

 logical information about the luminous organ, and the demonstrated 

 biochemical properties of the system, such as the necessity of oxygen 

 or of ATP, the separability of a luciferin and luciferase, the color of 

 fluorescence when present, the color of the bioluminescence, and the 

 susceptibility to inhibition by light. 



After the introductory survey, various avenues of approach, from 

 the purely physical to the purely biological, are dealt with compre- 

 hensively and in pertinent detail. 



