Photosynthesis Research 68: 1–28, 2001. 1 © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Minireview Photosynthesis and the Web: 2001 Larry Orr1 & Govindjee2,∗ 1Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, Box 871604, Tempe, AZ 85287- 1604, USA; 2Departments of Biochemistry and Plant Biology and Center of Biophysics & Computational Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801-3707, USA; ∗Author for correspondence (e-mail: [email protected]; fax: +1-217-244-7246) Received 15 June 2001; accepted in revised form 25 June 2001 Key words: Internet, K-12 education, Mosaic, NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications), World Wide Web Abstract First, a brief history of the Internet and the World Wide Web is presented. This is followed by relevant information on photosynthesis-related web sites grouped into several categories: (1) large group sites, (2) comprehensive overview sites, (3) specific subject sites, (4) individual researcher sites, (5) kindergarten through high school (K-12) educational sites, (6) books and journals, and, 7) other useful sites. A section on searching the Web is also included. Finally, we have included an appendix with all of the web sites discussed herein as well as other web sites that space did not allow. Readers are requested to send comments, corrections and additions to [email protected]. Abbreviations: ARPA – Advanced Research Projects Agency; ASU – Arizona State University; HTML – Hy- per Text Markup Language; NCSA – National Center for Supercomputing Applications; TCP/IP – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; UIUC – University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; URL – Universal Resource Locator; WWW – World Wide Web Introduction Three years ago we published a short paper detailing the then current state of photosynthesis web sites and how to find them (Orr and Govindjee 1998). This text was also available both at http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn and at http://www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee. Although many fine sites were found and discussed, the number of sites was rather limited due to several reasons, including the inexperience of scientists with hypertext markup language (HTML), lack of reliable web server hardware, constantly changing web addresses, and difficulty in using search engines. Since then the World Wide Web (WWW) has grown many times over and users have become sophisticated enough that there has been an explosion of great web sites. The Web has now become an important resource for public awareness and for educating all the people of the world including its political leaders, students, researchers, teachers and ordinary citizens seeking information. The Internet, over which the Web is accessed, took several years to develop. Originally it consisted of a number of smaller networks, the most important being a military network developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), part of the US Department of Defense, it was also made available to various universities (ARPA 1996). Many other smaller networks began connecting to the Internet when a set of communications standards was adopted. These standards, TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol), allowed the various universi- ties, government agencies and the military to send files and e-mail messages back and forth without standardizing 2 hardware as TCP/IP was a software that could be adapted to any operating system. The Internet became not a single large network, but a matrix of thousands of smaller networks with numerous redundant connections (Kroll 1992; Cerf 1993; Lenier et al. 2000). The World Wide Web began in 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee proposed a hypertext project as a means for scientists at the European Particle Physics Laboratory, CERN (Conseil Européen pour Recherche Nucleaire), located in Geneva, Switzerland, to exchange data with other scientists around the world (Bernes-Lee 1989; Segal 1995; Schwartz 1997; Bernes-Lee et al. 1999). Hypertext had been suggested years earlier by Vannevar Bush (W3C 2000) and later developed by Ted Nelson as part of a project named Xanadu that was never completed (Wolf 1995; W3C 2000). Initially, only scientific data was exchanged via web servers on the Internet, though it soon became possible for persons on any computer hooked to the Internet to access the information located on another computer that acted as a web server. All that was needed was an Internet connection and the Universal Resource Locator (URL), or address, of the item wanted. Typing the URL or mouse clicking on it in another document would cause the other web server to send the new item to the user’s computer. The material was usually displayed as lines of plain text. In 1993 the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) released Mosaic, developed by Marc Andreessen and others, that allowed text documents to be displayed graphically on computer monitors (Engst 1998). The scientific community quickly embraced Mosaic and other simple web readers, called web browsers. The capabilities of the web browsers were quickly grasped by most universities and many companies. The Web was suddenly accessible by anyone with an Internet connection and a browser. Information in the form of text, pictures, sound and movies became possible. Marc Andreessen joined Jim Clark to found the company that later became Netscape Communications (Goldberg 1994; Wolf 1994). They produced a commercial browser based on Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, which was so popular that it helped the Web explode into the ‘entity’ we know today. Later, Microsoft developed a competing browser, Internet Explorer, which it gave away for free. Soon the general public became involved in the Web in a big way. Commercial corporations were quick to establish web sites advertising their products or posting information that the public might want (Gromov 2000). Universities and research organizations began expanding their small informational sites to present massive amounts of information such as personnel directories, general and specific information for all facets of their organizations, course catalogs, registration forms, and, more recently, on-line classes. Elementary and high schools also began utilizing the Web for a variety of purposes, including the posting of lesson plans and the results of class projects done by their students (Williams 1996). Web sites devoted to photosynthesis began appearing in late 1994. Some were large sites devoted to covering the entire field of photosynthesis, but many were designed to cover a specific area in great detail. Many individual researchers also began developing their own sites filled with information about their research, labs, and the courses they were teaching. This Minireview will present relevant information on photosynthesis-related web sites grouped into several categories: 1) large group sites, 2) comprehensive overview sites, 3) specific subject sites, 4) individual researcher sites, 5) kindergarten (K)-12 educational sites, 6) books and journals, and, 7) other useful sites. A section on searching the Web is also included. Finally, we have included an appendix with all of the web sites discussed herein as well as other web sites that space did not allow. Because of time and length restrictions, as well as the dynamic nature of the Web, it is impossible to include every worthy web site in this review. Thus, we will highlight a few of the sites that we think epitomize the best the Web has to offer. Sites chosen for discussion will usually have a significant amount of information on one or more photosynthesis research areas and may include illustrations, movies and links to other sites of importance. Our sincere apologies to anyone whose site we have overlooked. Group sites One of the largest group sites, the Arizona State University (ASU) Photosynthesis Center site, went on- line in 1995. It was developed and is currently maintained by one of us (LO) and can be accessed at http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/. This award-winning site is very comprehensive and showcases not only the operations and work of the Center, but also provides original material and numerous annotated links to indi- 3 vidual and group photosynthesis research sites of interest to researchers, educators, students and the general public. One of its most popular items is its Nicelist, a list of photosynthesis researchers who do not mind receiving and answering emails (hence they are ‘nice’) and includes their e-mail addresses and, in most cases, their web site URLs (http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/nicelist.html). Another popular area is the educational section that contains links to sites of interest to students and educators and has been annotated as to subject matter and ap- propriate age-level of understanding (http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/education/learn.html). Some of the Center’s other web pages will be mentioned in the sections that follow. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the home of NCSA and Mosaic and there- fore the ‘mother’ of all modern web browsers, hosts several important sites. A site by one of us (G) (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee/), is much more than an individual site as it includes information on a variety of topics, including course web pages, a major tutorial/essay on ‘The Photosynthetic Process’ (by J. Whitmarsh and Govindjee), movies, photos and several items of historical importance including PDF files of Personal Perspectives of some eminent scientists, as well as some Obituaries, and comments on Robert Emerson, Eugene Rabinowitch, William Arnold, Lou Duysens and Stacy French. There is also a tutorial on ‘Photosynthesis and Time’ and other teaching materials such as slides which can be used in the classroom. UIUC is also the home of the wonderful and highly educational site of A. R. Crofts (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/crofts/ahab/index.html). The Photosynthesis Research Unit (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/pru/), affiliated with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, covers many areas of photosynthesis crop research.