Fred Chow: the contributions of a quiet giant of photoinhibition and photoprotection

Wah Soon (Fred) Chow has been a major contributor to photosynthesis research since the late 20th century. Fred, a quiet, gentle, smart and prolific writer, has contributed to our understanding of thylakoid structure, cyclic electron flow and the development of novel methods for phenotyping plants. However, a third of his productivity centres on the understanding of photoinhibition and photoprotection, which we honour herein. We give a brief biographical account of his academic trajectory, followed by a chronological and conceptual summary of his contributions to the field of photodamage and photoprotection. We thereby hope to introduce the work of Fred to young readers and non-experts in the field of photoinhibition.