Folke Karl Skoog (July 15, 1908 – February 15, 2001) was a Swedish-born American

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 ...

who was a pioneer in the field of plant growth regulators, particularly

cytokinins Cytokinins (CK) are a class of plant hormones that promote cell division, or cytokinesis, in plant roots and shoots. They are involved primarily in cell growth and differentiation, but also affect apical dominance, axillary bud growth, and leaf ...

. Skoog was a recipient of the

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...

1991. Born in

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Skåne, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Br ...

, Sweden, Skoog immigrated to the United States during a trip to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 1925, and was naturalized as a citizen almost a decade later. He competed, and finished sixth in heat 2, in the 1500 meter race during the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

. In 1936, he received his PhD in biology from

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

for his work done with

auxin Auxins (plural of auxin ) are a class of plant hormones (or plant-growth regulators) with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins play a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in plant life cycles and are essent ...

, a plant hormone. In 1937, Skoog was a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

with

Dennis Robert Hoagland Dennis Robert Hoagland (April 2, 1884 – September 5, 1949) was an American chemist and leading plant and soil scientist who pioneered work in plant nutrition, soil chemistry, agricultural chemistry, biochemistry, and physiology. He was Pro ...

, and his professional career advanced significantly with his arrival at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in 1947. Carlos O. Miller discovered

kinetin Kinetin (/'kaɪnɪtɪn/) is a cytokinin-like synthetic plant hormone that promotes cell division in plants. Kinetin was originally isolated by Carlos O. Miller and Skoog ''et al.'' as a compound from autoclaved herring sperm DNA that had cell ...

in 1954, and

benzyladenine 6-Benzylaminopurine, benzyl adenine, BAP or BA is a first-generation synthetic cytokinin that elicits plant growth and development responses, setting blossoms and stimulating fruit richness by stimulating cell division. It is an inhibitor of res ...

and related compounds were later synthesized in Skoog's lab. In 1962, Skoog and

Toshio Murashige Toshio Murashige is a professor emeritus of University of California Riverside in plant biology. He is most widely known for his efforts in creating the plant tissue culture medium known as Murashige and Skoog medium Murashige (written: 村重) i ...

published what is probably the best-known paper in plant tissue culture. In a fruitless attempt to discover a yet-unknown plant growth regulator in

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

juice for his doctoral thesis, Murashige instead developed a greatly improved salt-based formulation for the sterile culture of tobacco. Now referred to as

Murashige and Skoog medium Murashige (written: 村重) is both a Japanese surname and a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname *, Japanese singer and idol * Toshio Murashige, American botanist Given name *, Japanese samurai {{given n ...

, the final paper (''Murashige, T. and Skoog, F. (1962) A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol Plant 18: 100-127'') is one of the most often-cited papers in biology. Now, more than 60 years after the work, the ''MS medium'' remains an essential component in

plant tissue culture Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues, or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. It is widely used to produce clones of a plant in a method know ...

, but not in

hydroponics Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of #Passive sub-irrigation, hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral Plant nutrition, nutrient Solution (chemi ...

. In 1970, Skoog was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

and in 1992, he received the ″Lifetime Achievement Award″ from the ''Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB)''.

References

1908 births 2001 deaths Swedish scientists California Institute of Technology alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty National Medal of Science laureates Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Plant physiologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Olympic athletes for Sweden Swedish emigrants to the United States Washington University in St. Louis faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Caltech Beavers men's track and field athletes People from Halland County {{Sweden-botanist-stub