Peter Crane

This article is about the botanist. For the cricketer, see Peter Crane (cricketer). For the director, see Peter Crane (director).

Sir Peter Crane, FRS (born 18 July 1954) is a former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 2002. He was awarded a knighthood on 12 June 2004.

Crane is an alumnus of the University of Reading, he was degree BSc in Biology in 1975 then, he achieved a PhD in Botany in the faculty of Biology, of Reading University in 1981, with a thesis on "Studies on the Flora of the Reading Beds (Upper Palaeocene)”. His own research interests involve the integration of studies of living and fossil plants, in order to understand large-scale patterns and processes of plant evolution. He has previously held positions at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (as assistant curator in the Department of Geology, and director with overall responsibility for scientific programs) and at the University of Chicago (professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences). In November 2005, Sir Peter announced that he would resign his position at Kew to accept a faculty appointment in the University of Chicago’s Department of Geophysical Sciences beginning July 1, 2006. On March 4, 2009, it was announced Crane would leave the University of Chicago to become the new dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, succeeding James Speth. His appointment is effective September 2009.

Crane is married with two children.

References

• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Director - Professor Sir Peter Crane FRS. Retrieved October 4, 2005.