It is universally acknowledged that George Gabriel Stokes (1819–1903) was a polymath who made major contributions to the fields of mathematics, chemistry, physics, fluidics and optics. However, his contributions to biology have received far less attention and this brief communication examines two of Stokes' major biological contributions, namely his description of the phenomenon of fluorescence and his studies on the changes in the colour of blood following oxidation and reduction. The paper on fluorescence is discussed because in it, Stokes demonstrates his wide-ranging biological knowledge and because the use of fluorescence is an invaluable experimental tool in biology. It was by developing the experimental approaches and equipment used to investigate fluorescence that Stokes then applied these to other investigations, including that of blood. From what we now know, what Stokes was describing in his paper on blood were the changes in the configuration of the haemoglobin molecule upon the acquisition and release of oxygen. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Stokes at 200 (part 2)'.

中文翻译：

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George Gabriel Stokes 饰 生物学家

众所周知，乔治·加布里埃尔·斯托克斯（George Gabriel Stokes，1819-1903 年）是一位博学者，对数学、化学、物理学、流体学和光学领域做出了重大贡献。然而，他对生物学的贡献远没有受到关注，这篇简短的通讯考察了斯托克斯的两个主要生物学贡献，即他对荧光现象的描述和他对氧化和还原后血液颜色变化的研究。讨论了关于荧光的论文，因为在其中，斯托克斯展示了他广泛的生物学知识，并且因为荧光的使用是生物学中非常宝贵的实验工具。通过开发用于研究荧光的实验方法和设备，斯托克斯将这些应用于其他研究，包括血液。据我们现在所知，斯托克斯在他关于血液的论文中所描述的是血红蛋白分子在获得和释放氧气时的构型变化。本文是主题问题“斯托克斯 200（第 2 部分）”的一部分。