Anton Lang (January 18, 1913 – June 24, 1996) was a Russian-born American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and a

plant physiologist Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Plant physiologists study fundamental processes of plants, such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition, plant hormone functions, tropi ...

Biography

He was born in Saint Petersburg, his father was Georg Lang, a famous Russian scientist and founding father of modern therapeutic therapies. Georg Lang SCIENCE NOTES; Housework Really Light Work --Flowers Made to Bloom HOUSEWORK-- FLOWERS-- NITROGLYCERINE-- PIPELINES, September 30, 1956
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/ref> ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100212195309/http://www.prl.msu.edu/PRL%20History/LangAwardLecturers.pdf Michigan State:The Anton Lang Memorial Awards and seminar/ref> He graduated from the University of Berlin in 1939, majoring in botany. After that, he is working as scientific assistant of

Georg Melchers Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker * Spiders Georg, an Internet meme See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: ...

at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin-Dahlem. The cooperation between Anton Lang and Georg Melchers proved extremely fruitful and continued at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen until 1949, when Anton, his wife Lydia, and his mother emigrated to North America. He was the recipient of a Lady Davis fellowship in the genetics department of McGill University, then a visiting professor at Texas A&M University. In the fall of 1950 Anton moved to Caltech, where he became a research fellow with James Bonner. In 1952 Anton accepted a faculty position in the botany department at UCLA. In 1959 Anton moved from UCLA back to Caltech, this time as professor of biology and director of the Earhart Plant Research Laboratory. In 1964 the Atomic Energy Commission decided to build the Plant Research Laboratory at Michigan State University, and Anton was named its first director. He retired in 1983. Lang was notable, among other things, for a discovery of a new method of forcing a bloom in flowers.

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

established a memorial award in Lang's name - The Anton Lang Memorial Award. Lang was a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, the founding director of the Plant Research Laboratory at the

, the managing editor of '' Planta'', president of the

Society for Developmental Biology The Society for Developmental Biology (SDB), originally the Society for the Study of Development and Growth, is an organization for scientists and professionals around the world whose research is focused on the study of the developmental biology, e ...

, and president of the

American Society of Plant Physiologists The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is a non-profit professional society for research and education in plant science with over 4,000 members world-wide. It was founded in 1924, as the American Society of Plant Physiologists (ASPP). Th ...

. Among notable awards Lang received the Stephen Hales Award and the Charles Barnes Life Membership Award of the

. In 1965, Anton was elected to the German Academy of Natural Scientists (Leopoldina). In 1981 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow, and in 1982 he was awarded an honorary membership by the German Botanical Society. Anton Lang is a grand uncle of

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

's only son Andrei.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Anton 1913 births 1996 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American plant physiologists American people of Russian descent 20th-century American botanists Soviet emigrants to Germany Emigrants from West Germany to the United States