Bio-bibliography

USA/UK

Kenneth Vivian Thimann

1982 Balzan Prize for Pure and Applied Botany

For his elucidation of the functions of hormones in the control and development of plants, in particular for having isolated the growth hormone (auxin) and clarified its chemical structure. This discovery has also been of great practical value in agriculture.

KENNETH VIVIAN THIMANN was born in Ashford, England, on August 5, 1904 (*1904 †1997).
Professor of Biology at Harvard University since 1932 and Emeritus Professor at the University of Santa Cruz, California, since 1965;
currently working at Thimann Laboratories, named after him;
member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA;
overseas member of the Royal Society, London, of the Académie des Sciences, Paris, of the Accademia dei Lincei, Rome, and many other learned societies; honorary Degree from Universities of Base! and Clermont-Ferrand.

In addition to seven treatises and many articles of a general nature, Thimann is the author of 180 original articles on plant biology and physiology.
The following are some of his most important books:
— Phytohormones (with F.W. Went), 1937;
— The Action of Hormones in Plants and Invertebrates (with F.W. Brown and B. Scharrer), 1948;
— The Life of Bacteria, 1955; 2nd edition, 1963;
— L’Origine et les Fonctions des Auxines, 1956;
— The Natural Plant Hormones, 1972;
— Hormone Action in the Whole Life of Plants, 1977;
— Senescence in Plants, 1980.