Arthur Galston

Arthur W. Galston (April 21, 1920 – June 15, 2008) was an American plant physiologist and bioethicist. As a plant biologist, Galston studied plant hormones and the effects of light on plant development, particularly phototropism. He identified riboflavin and other flavins as what are called phototropins, photoreceptor proteins for phototropism (the bending of plants toward light), challenging the prevailing view that carotenoids were responsible.^[1]

As a graduate student in 1943, Galston studied the use of 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) to encourage the flowering of soybeans and noted that high levels had a defoliant effect. The British and U.S. military later developed TIBA into Agent Orange which was employed extensively in Malaya and Vietnam. Galston became a bioethicist, and spoke out against such uses of science. As chairman of Yale's botany department, Galston's ethical objections led President Nixon to end the use of Agent Orange.