Barbara Pickersgill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Barbara Pickersgill
Pickersgill in 2006

Barbara Pickersgill (born 1940) is a famous British botanist. A botanist is a scientist who studies plants. She is especially interested in how wild plants become farm crops, a process called domestication. She also studies the genetics (how traits are passed down), taxonomy (how plants are grouped), and evolutionary biology (how plants change over time) of plants we eat. She works to protect the many different kinds of crops we have, which is called crop diversity.

In 1966, she earned her PhD degree from Indiana University. Her big research paper, called a dissertation, was about the different types of Capsicum chinense, which are chili peppers. Her professor, Charles B. Heiser, helped her with this work.

Barbara Pickersgill is known around the world for her important studies on chili peppers. She looked at their genetics, how their cells are organized, and how they are related to each other. She also researched where other farm plants came from. These include beans, peanuts, pineapples, cotton, sweet potatoes, and corn. She even went on trips to countries like Peru, Brazil, Belize, and Papua New Guinea to collect plant samples.

In 2005, she retired from the University of Reading but kept working as an Honorary Research Associate. Her research projects include:

• Studying chili peppers (Capsicum) using molecular biology to understand their family tree. She also looks at how wild chili types can help make farmed chilis better.
• Researching how crops become domesticated. She worked on the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) with a group in Colombia.
• Looking at the different types of genes in tropical crops. She also works on protecting and improving these crops.
  • One of these crops is Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). She worked on this with a research center in Peru.
  • She also studied bananas (Musa species) from the East African Highlands.

Honours and Awards

Barbara Pickersgill has received several special awards for her work.

Linnean Medal

In 1993, the Linnean Society of London gave her the Linnean Medal. This is a very important award for scientists who study plants or animals. She received it for her great contributions to botany.

Society for Economic Botany

In 2000, she was chosen to be the president of the Society for Economic Botany. This group studies how people use plants.

Conference in Her Honour

On August 4, 2006, the Linnean Society of London held a special one-day meeting. This conference was organized to celebrate Barbara Pickersgill's amazing work.