Folke Karl Skoog (July 15, 1908 – February 15, 2001) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-born American plant physiologist 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 le ...

. 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 and social scienc ...

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, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömsebro ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, Skoog emigrated to the United States during a trip to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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 duri ...

. In 1936, he received his PhD in biology from

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

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 essenti ...

, 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). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

with

Dennis Robert Hoagland Dennis Robert Hoagland (April 2, 1884 – September 5, 1949) was an American chemist and plant scientist working in the fields of plant nutrition, agricultural chemistry, and physiology. He was Professor of Plant Nutrition at the University o ...

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

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

in 1947. Carlos O. Miller discovered

kinetin Kinetin (/'kaɪnɪtɪn/) is a type of cytokinin, a class of plant hormone that promotes cell division. Kinetin was originally isolated by Carlos Miller and Skoog ''et al.'' as a compound from autoclaved herring sperm DNA that had cell division ...

in 1954, and benzyladenine 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 and Skoog medium (o ...

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 and Skoog instead developed a greatly improved salt base for the sterile culture of tobacco. Now referred to as

Murashige and Skoog medium Murashige and Skoog medium (or ''MSO ''or '' MS0'' ''(MS-zero)'') is a plant growth medium used in the laboratories for cultivation of plant cell culture. MS0 was invented by plant scientists Toshio Murashige and Folke K. Skoog in 1962 during Mura ...

, 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 50 years after the work, M&S salt base 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 known ...

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

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) 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 ...

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 of Sweden Swedish emigrants to the United States {{Sweden-botanist-stub