A pioneer in the field of photosynthesis research, he provided extensive evidence that plants consume carbon dioxide and produced oxygen.

[7] His precise definition of the experimental method anticipated the work of noted French physiologist Claude Bernard fifty years later.

Spallanzani's chemical research on bodily functions of animals helped lead Senebier towards studying plant chemistry.

Senebier trained the young man in Lavoisier's system of chemistry, which Nicolas-Théodore later applied in important plant-nutrition studies of his own.

[14]: 180  The younger Saussure would eventually discover the role of water in photosynthesis, thus completing the early chemical research on this subject.