Growth and Development of Plants in Compensated Gravitational, Magnetic, and Electrical Fields
Solon A. Gordon, Jane Shen Miller, George Svihla, Herbert Ostrander, Luther Hardy, Arlee Tracy · 1962
This 1962 plant study was among the first to show electromagnetic fields can disrupt fundamental biological orientation systems.
Plain English Summary
This 1962 technical report examined how plants grow and orient themselves when exposed to compensated gravitational, magnetic, and electrical fields. The research investigated plant tropism (directional growth responses) under controlled electromagnetic conditions. This early work helped establish the foundation for understanding how electromagnetic fields can influence biological orientation and development in living organisms.
Why This Matters
This pioneering 1962 research represents some of the earliest systematic investigation into how electromagnetic fields affect living systems. While focused on plant biology, the study's exploration of how electrical and magnetic fields influence biological orientation mechanisms has profound implications for understanding EMF effects on all life forms, including humans. The research examined compensated field conditions, meaning the scientists carefully controlled multiple types of fields simultaneously to isolate specific biological responses.
What makes this work particularly significant is its early recognition that electromagnetic fields can fundamentally alter how living organisms orient and develop. The gravitational compensation aspect suggests researchers were investigating whether EMF exposure could override natural biological guidance systems. This connects directly to modern concerns about how our constant exposure to artificial electromagnetic fields from phones, WiFi, and power lines might be disrupting fundamental biological processes that evolved over millions of years in Earth's natural electromagnetic environment.
Finding
It may be tentatively concluded that during rotation the growth which takes place on already pre-differentiated cellular templates does not result in significant changes of gross morphology. However, the direction of root and shoot growth appears to have no orientation whatsoever with respect to the spatial coordinates of the medium and container.
In their words
“It may be tentatively concluded that during rotation the growth which takes place on already pre-differentiated cellular templates does not result in significant changes of gross morphology. However, the direction of root and shoot growth appears to have no orientation whatsoever with respect to the spatial coordinates of the medium and container.”
Figures from the Original Paper
Diagrams extracted from the original research document.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
To study growth and development of plants in compensated gravitational, magnetic, and electrical fields
The experimental plan required an apparatus that would move differentiated and undifferentiated tiss...
Preliminary experiments have been run with this apparatus with germinating seeds of the oat (Avena s...
Show BibTeX
@article{growth_and_development_of_plants_in_compensated_gravitational_magnetic_and_elect_g3884,
author = {Solon A. Gordon and Jane Shen Miller and George Svihla and Herbert Ostrander and Luther Hardy and Arlee Tracy},
title = {Growth and Development of Plants in Compensated Gravitational, Magnetic, and Electrical Fields},
year = {1962},
}