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Hydroponics is not a newly founded tradition for growing plants. Hydroponics is at least
as ancient as the pyramids. The first people to adapt and use this method to their
advantage were the Aztecs. The Aztec’s floating gardens were the basis of their life
second only to hunting. When they were pushed onto the marshy shore of Lake
Tenochtitlan the Aztecs were forced to farm with out using their unfertile land. In turn
they developed a very useful method of growing plants.
Another example of famous hydroponics can be found at the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon. There was believed to be an elaborate hydroponic system, into which fresh
water rich in oxygen and nutrients was regularly pumped.
The first recorded scientific experimentation using hydroponics was in 1600 when
Belgian Jan van Helmont showed in his classical experiment that plants obtain substances
from water. He planted a 5-pound willow shoot in a tube containing 200 pounds of dried
soil that was covered to keep out dust. After 5 years of regular watering with rainwater he
found the willow shoot increased in weight by 160 pounds, while the soil lost less than 2
ounces. His conclusion that plants obtain substances for growth from water was correct.
With this information at their side many scientist have worked with hydroponics so that
they make it another common way to grow plants in today's time.
http://archimedes.galilei.com/raiar/histhydr.html