Peter R. Crane

Peter Crane is Carl W. Knobloch Jr. Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. His work focuses on the diversity of plant life – its origin, fossil history, current status, conservation and use. From 1982 to 1999 he was at the Field Museum in Chicago. From 1999 to 2006 he was Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of the most prestigious botanical gardens in the world. From 2006-2009, he was John and Marion Sullivan University Professor at The University of Chicago. He was elected to the Royal Society, the UK academy of sciences, in 1998 and was knighted in the UK for services to horticulture and conservation in 2004. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a Member of the German Academy Leopoldina. He is the recipient of several honorary degrees and currently serves on the Board of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas, and WWF-US.