[1][2][4] Bonner was instrumental in the invention of a method of mechanical harvesting of oranges.
[1][2][3][4] One of his most notable discoveries was finding how histones control gene activity.
[1] Bonner spent the year after his PhD in Europe on a National Research Council fellowship at Utrecht, Leiden and ETH in Zurich.
[4] He was a postdoctoral fellow at California Institute of Technology after his return from Europe,[4] then joined the faculty in 1936.
[9][10][11] Bonner wrote over 500 scientific papers on all aspects of plant physiology as well as 10 textbooks.