Tony Trewavas facts for kids

Anthony James Trewavas, born in 1939, is a famous scientist who used to be a professor at the University of Edinburgh. He is well-known for studying how plants work (plant physiology) and the tiny parts inside them (molecular biology).

He especially loves to research how plants behave and react to their surroundings. Trewavas is also known for helping to bring back the idea that plants might be "intelligent" in the early 2000s.

Early Life and Learning

Anthony Trewavas was born in London in 1939. He went to John Roans Grammar School in Blackheath, London. He finished school in 1958.

He then went to University College London. There, he earned both his first degree and his PhD in biochemistry. His PhD research looked at how plants use phosphate and how plant growth hormones affect plants like Avena (oats).

A Career in Plant Science

After getting his PhD, Trewavas continued his research at the University of East Anglia. In 1970, he moved to the University of Edinburgh. He became a Professor of Plant Biochemistry there in 1990 and stayed until 2004.

In 1972, he was invited to be a visiting professor at the Plant Research Laboratory in Michigan State University. This lab was considered one of the best places for plant research at that time. He also visited other universities in America and Europe, often giving many lectures.

Professor Trewavas has written about 250 scientific papers and three books. He was made a Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh in 2004. This means he retired but still holds the title of professor.

How Plants Behave

Trewavas's main research focused on how plants behave. Plant behavior is simply how plants respond to problems or changes in their environment. He led a group that studied the role of calcium in how plants develop. Calcium helps send signals inside plants.

Plants as Problem Solvers

Even though Trewavas studied tiny plant parts, he was truly fascinated by how whole plants act. In 1972, he read a book about systems theory. This idea changed how he saw biology. It suggested that living things are made of interconnected systems or networks. These connections create new properties in organisms.

At the time, most scientists focused on breaking things down into tiny parts (reductionism). Trewavas's new ideas were very different and even caused some controversy. His articles were sometimes not taken seriously.

His inspiration for studying plant intelligence came from another scientist, Barbara McClintock. In his 2014 book, Plant Behaviour and Intelligence, Trewavas defined intelligence as "the capacity for problem solving." Using this idea, he argued that all living things, including plants, act intelligently to solve problems in their environment.

Awards and Honors

Professor Trewavas has received many important awards and honors for his work:

• He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 1993.
• He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 1995.
• He became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1999. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
• He also became a member of the Academia Europaea in 2002.
• In 1999, he received an award from the American Society of Plant Biologists. This award is given to only one non-US biologist each year.
• The Institute for Scientific Information has named him one of the most cited authors in animal and plant sciences. This means his work is often referred to by other scientists.