Photomovement of Algae – Historical Overview of Research and Current State of the Art

Zusammenfassung

Interest in understanding the mystery surrounding the movement of living organisms dates from ancient times. The first published work in the field [De Motu Animalium (“On the Motion of Animals”)] was by Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) who was interested in similarities in motion among animals. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), a distinguished painter, architect and engineer, also studied the mechanics of movement in organisms (biomechanics). His Codex on the Flight of Birds was a precise study of the mechanics of flight and air movement. The same problems captured the interest of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608-1679), a famous Italian mathematician, astronomer and compatriot of Galileo Galilei. He authored the first book on biomechanics [De Motu Animalium I and De Motu Animalium II (“On the Motion of Animals”), 1679] that was dedicated to muscular movement and body dynamics. He also studied bird flight and the swimming of fish [Thurston, 1999].