New trends in photobiology

Abstract At the beginning of our century few scientists paid attention to the phenomenon of inactivation of photosynthesis by high light intensities which was later called photoinhibition. In the period 1925–1950, the idea was established that photoinhibition is a reversible inactivation, determined by light intensity and exposure time, followed by irreversible damage of the photosynthetic apparatus. However, the absence of a uniform terminology demonstrates that photoinhibition was not completely perceived and understood. In 1956, B. Kok gave the first definition of photoinhibition as a photochemical inactivation of pigment complexes.