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Papers by Yona Siderer

Substantia, Mar 1, 2021

This work presents chemistry studies of the Japanese scholar Udagawa Youan (1798-1846), specifica... more This work presents chemistry studies of the Japanese scholar Udagawa Youan (1798-1846), specifically, his pioneering book Seimi Kaiso, introduction to Chemistry, and includes a short biography of Youan. The first aim of this work is to present Youan's contribution to Western chemistry in Japan. Youan studied many Western books and listed their authors. The new terms he invented for chemistry in Japanese influenced the development of chemistry writing and application in Japan. The seven books of Seimi Kaiso that were published during 1837-1847 and republished with annotation in Japanese in 1975 are discussed in this article. The impact of Youan' terminology on the history of chemistry writing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is discussed. The conditions of knowledge transfer among Japanese and Western scholars were very different. Youan had severe difficulties facing the strict attitude of the Tokugawa authorities toward studying and distributing knowledge coming from foreign countries. The later development of Japanese chemistry language and studies is also described.

Journal of magnetic resonance, Feb 1, 1980

Analytical expressions are given for magnetic resonance lineshapes of powder samples with axially... more Analytical expressions are given for magnetic resonance lineshapes of powder samples with axially symmetric Hamiltonians. The expressions are derived for Lorentzian lineshapes and isotropic distributions of molecules. The following Hamiltonians are considered: (i) anisotropic secular g tensor, (ii) anisotropic nonsecular g tensor, (iii) anisotropic secular g tensor and hyperfine interaction, and (iv) the-4-i transition of a quadratic Hamiltonian of half-integer spins. The final expressions are given in terms of a complex logarithmic function and are easy to apply. They can also be used to calculate spectra of Hamiltonians which are not axially symmetric and, in the special case of strong collision, to calculate dynamic magnetic resonance spectra. The use of these expressions results in a considerable saving of computer time compared with the standard sampling techniques.

Substantia, Sep 9, 2021

This research studies two translations of Henry Enfield Roscoe's chemistry book of 1872 into Japa... more This research studies two translations of Henry Enfield Roscoe's chemistry book of 1872 into Japanese (1873) and Hebrew (1929). Roscoe's original chapter on candle burning is presented, in which he manifested his attitude to chemical experiments. The Japanese and Hebrew historical backgrounds of the translations, as well as their cultural and linguistic aspects are discussed. Roscoe's relations with Japanese scholars are presented. The study moves between events in three countries, England, Japan and Israel. The importance and complexity of translation of science and its later results are discussed.

FEBS Letters, Aug 15, 1979

Journal of Chemical Physics, Jul 15, 1972

Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta - Bioenergetics, Dec 1, 1974

The previously reported effect of salt concentration on the fluorescence and other photochemical ... more The previously reported effect of salt concentration on the fluorescence and other photochemical activities of Photosystem II is anterpreted m terms of a change in the radlatlonless transition and the trapping probabilities This is confirmed by quantitative comparison of the fluorescence and the photochemical actlwty As a by-product of this analysis a method is devised to estimate the background fluorescence We did not ehmmate the possibility that the radlatlonless transmon constant may include a contribution of energy transfer from Photosystem II to Photosystem I

Springer eBooks, 1977

The relation between electron transport, proton transport, proton gradient-formation and ATP synt... more The relation between electron transport, proton transport, proton gradient-formation and ATP synthesis is qualitatively and quantitatively investigated. Proton gradients have many properties which are in agreement with their being an intermediary energy pool between electron transport and ATP formation. Approximately three protons are required to transverse the chloroplast-vesiclemembrane to provide sufficient energy for the synthesis of an ATP molecule in the steady state. The system is shown to be fully reversible through the experimental demonstration of ATP driven proton gradients and reverse electron flow, and proton gradient driven reverse electron flow and reverse-electron-flow-luminescence.

Chemischer Informationsdienst, Nov 4, 1975

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Dec 1, 1977

Substitution of H 2 16 O by H 2 17 O induces a substantial broadening of the high-field line in t... more Substitution of H 2 16 O by H 2 17 O induces a substantial broadening of the high-field line in the electron-spin resonance spectrum of ferric myoglobin due to the presence of H 2 17 O at the axial ligand-site. Computer simulations of the experimental spectra yielded the values ...

Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta - Bioenergetics, Jun 1, 1986

Foundations of Chemistry, May 17, 2017

Japanese scholars in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries concentrated their efforts translati... more Japanese scholars in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries concentrated their efforts translating Western scientific books. Due to fact that only Dutch merchants were permitted to trade with Japan, mainly books in Dutch were introduced into Japan. Thus Dutch translations of books from England, Germany, France, Sweden and Italy were imported. Udagawa Youan was a member of a Japanese family of Chinese medicine doctors and Dutch translators. In the following chapters I outline his life, his vast scope of translations, and present one of his translations, Kouso Seimika, “Chemistry of the Element of Light”: On light and heat reactions with substances, based on a paragraph of the Dutch edition of Antoine Lavoisier’s Traité Élémentaire de Chimie. Youan’s skills were shown in coining new terms in his largest book Seimi Kaiso for which more than twenty-five books of foreign authors are cited as origin for its translation. The wide range of knowledge transfer between scholars of different countries in Europe emphasizes its contrast with the isolation of translation work of the Japanese scholars. Flow of scientific knowledge from Europe to Japan in the nineteenth century is manifested. Udagawa Youan’s text Kouso Seimika explains the reactions of heat and light with matter, plants, animals and mankind as was understood in Lavoisier time.

Foundations of Chemistry, Oct 1, 2016

His research interests include history of chemistry in Russia and Japan and environmental history... more His research interests include history of chemistry in Russia and Japan and environmental history. He authored Mendeleev's Discovery of the Periodic Law of Chemical Elements (in Japanese), Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press, 1997." He was a co-editor and published his article in Early Responses to the Periodic System, Masanori Kaji, Helge Kragh, Gábor Palló, Oxford University Press 2015. This quotation is taken from that book. I met Masanori Kaji 梶雅範 in his office at Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT) in 2007, following the recommendation of his former Professor Tatsumasa Dōke. This meeting led to a scholarship for me from the Japan Foundation with his guidance, and for a collaboration that lasted for the last 10 years, until the week of his untimely death. During our first meeting I was mostly impressed by his large library, including many books in Russian, not typical in Japan. I thought he will be a good tutor for me to walk into the history of chemistry in Japan. And so it was. We met for discussions and Masanori will answer my questions and recommend reading materials. He also recommended that I participate in a seminar held by Professor Yasu Furukawa at Tokyo University, Komaba Campus that added a lot, meeting more scholars and a wider scope of the science history in Japan. Kaji was present in the course I taught to MSc students in TIT, helping me, together with Prof. Kazuhiko Shibuya of the chemistry department, in gathering the course materials. We held a short course in Hebrew Language, Masanori was a hard working student, preparing homework. We met during several international conferences abroad: In the International Conference for the History and Technology, Budapest, summer 2009. I presented our study, Masanori presented his. A very interesting lecture Masanori presented at the International Society for the History of Chemistry Conference, held in Uppsala, Sweden, in summer & Yona Siderer

FEBS Letters, Oct 15, 1976

Photosynthesis Research, Jan 30, 2018

We present here the life and work of Shmuel Malkin (1934-2017), an accomplished scientist and a g... more We present here the life and work of Shmuel Malkin (1934-2017), an accomplished scientist and a gifted musician who touched the lives of many around the world. His early scientific work addressed the dynamics of light harvesting and electron transport in photosynthesis. Later, he used photoacoustic and photothermal methodologies to explore all aspects of photosynthesis. As a musician, Shmuel played the piano often for family and friends but after his formal retirement, he produced a body of original musical compositions, many of which were performed publicly. Throughout his life, Shmuel was a caring and deeply thoughtful man, respected and loved by colleagues, family, and friends. This tribute presents a summary of Shmuel's work as well as remembrances written by his wife, Nava Malkin, their son, Eyal Malkinson, and many of his colleagues: Michael Havaux from France; Sandra and Marcel Jansen from Ireland; David Cahen, Marvin Edelmann, Joop and Onnie de Graaf, Jonathan Gressel, Uri Pick, Yona Siderer, and Elisha Tel-Or from Israel; Ulrich Schreiber from Germany; James Barber and Alison Telfer from the UK; Govindjee, Stephen Herbert and Thomas Sharkey from the USA. Minnie Ho and Iris Malkin of the USA wrote contributions about Shmuel's music.

Springer eBooks, 1984

One of the most widely known herbicides, DCMU, is a urea derivative which is often used as an inh... more One of the most widely known herbicides, DCMU, is a urea derivative which is often used as an inhibitor in the photosynthetic electron transport process, presumably by binding to a protein-plastoquinone complex called B or R (A. Trebst, 1981. Action mechanism of herbicides in photosynthetic electron transport, in “Proceedings of the Fifth International Photosyn-thesis Congress” (G. Akoyunoglou, ed.), Vol. VI, pp. 507–520). The B-protein is a 32 KDa polypeptide whose organization and possible role in the photosynthetic membrane are not as yet clear. The exact mode by which herbicides are bound to this protein, the site or sites of their binding on the protein itself and the mechanism of their inhibition capacity are all still open questions. We have synthesized a urea derivative, Ditempouron (DTPU) (Fig. 1), which possesses a nitroxide group to serve as a paramagnetic probe in studying the site and mechanism of activity of the urea type inhibitors. Although this new compound is bulkier than DCMU, we hoped that, similar to the herbicide siduron, it would continue to serve as a DCMU-like electron transport inhibitor. We describe below the synthesis of this compound, its inhibitory properties in photosynthesis, and some preliminary ESR studies in lettuce and spinach chloroplasts.