S&T Watch-16: "Light Rays used to judge Health of Plants"

I have read about Kirlian Photography some years back during my Homeopathy days. It was discovered accidentally by Semyon Davidovich Kirlian, a Russian of Armenian descent, in 1939. It employs high-frequency current and is also known as Corona Discharge Photography. Without a camera, using only a photographic film and electric current, Kirlian was able to take striking photographs of apparent energy discharge around objects.

It was found that Kirlian photography could help detect incipient plant disease. Likewise, it can also help to find the index of a person’s health, besides illuminating the acupuncture points of the human body. Incidentally, it also showed proof of supernatural auras, resembling outline of objects like colourful halos. This is an interesting but controversial subject and research is still being conducted on it.

More details about “Semyon Kirlian” and “Kirlian Photography” are available in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semyon_Kirlian

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirlian

The book, “Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain” by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder also provides more details about the experiments of the Kirlians on Kirlian Photography aka Corona Discharge Photography. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1970).

Now, I have read in today’s paper about a Singapore Polytechnic lecturer coming up with a similar discovery which could help determine health of plants. Further, this discovery also helps farmers detect when and how much fertilizer and water their plants need. Very useful and interesting indeed. The report from DPA, which was reproduced in The Hindu, Madurai, of July 20, 2008 is furnished below:

“A Singapore lecturer has found a way to determine the health of plants long before they show obvious signs of wilting, a centre for biomedical life sciences said on Saturday (July 19, 2008). Dr Liew Oi Wah, at the Singapore Polytechnic, is replying on light sensors to study the wave pattern reflected from plants. She is able to determine the extent of minerals a plant needs depending on the light spectrum produced. Dr Liew is aiming to develop sensor that will help farmers detect when and how much fertilizer and water their plants need. More than 70% of the world’s fresh water supply goes to agriculture, with fertilizers causing pollution in some countries. – DPA”

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, July 20, 2008

Grateful thanks to DPA, The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.