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Gregor
Mendel -
the Father of modern genetics. |
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Chernobyl, Ukraine
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Bronze Age (2500-600 BC)- beginnings of significant metal contamination of soil continued with
Greek and Roman mining and metal industries 500-300 BC). Exposure to heavy
metal concentrations led to proliferation of metal tolerant and hyperaccumulating plants.
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Middle Ages- first use of soil remediation was in the form of crop rotation
for the purpose of restoring fertility to the soil
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1865- field of genetics founded when Austrian botanist and monk,
Gregor Mendel experimented with heredity
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1928- F. Griffith discovers genetics transformation with bacteria; first
genetically engineered product (insulin) produced
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1917- origination of the word "biotechnology" in reference to a mass production of materials
from microbes grown in vats
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1970's- development of genetic recombination techniques
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1986- First genetically engineered plant
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Modern crop rotation feild
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First methods for field testing phytoremediation developed by Kathy Banks and her
husband.
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Team at Purdue University has pioneered the use of poplar trees to remediate soil contaminated with petroleum
products
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Two independent research groups have provided the first insights into the molecular basis of hyperaccumulating
mechanisms and processes as well as developing transgenic varieties of such plants.
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Phytoremediation has only been studied extensively in small-scale and site-specific demonstrations- a scientist
in Chernobyl, Ukraine successfully used sunflowers to remove radioactive contaminants from pond water.
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History
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