Jeffrey Harborne facts for kids
Jeffrey Barry Harborne (born September 1, 1928, died July 21, 2002) was a British chemist. He was a pioneer in studying how plants, tiny living things (microbes), and insects interact using chemicals. He was a professor of Botany at the University of Reading.
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Learning and Early Career
Jeffrey Harborne went to Wycliffe College and the University of Bristol. He finished his chemistry degree in 1949. In 1953, he earned his PhD. His research was about natural compounds found in plants.
From 1953 to 1955, Harborne worked in California. He studied plant pigments, like the ones that give flowers their colors (called anthocyanins). He used special tools to identify these substances.
After returning to the UK, he joined the John Innes Research Institute. Here, he studied chemicals in potato plants. He learned more about anthocyanins, which are plant colors. He also studied how these colors are made in many garden plants.
Discoveries About Plant Chemicals
From 1965 to 1968, Harborne worked at the University of Liverpool. After that, he became a professor at the University of Reading in England. He was the head of the Botany Department there from 1987 to 1993. He also visited other universities around the world as a professor.
Harborne studied how special plant chemicals called flavonoids help plants and insects interact. He also looked at how anthocyanins affect how plants are pollinated. He researched plant defense chemicals called phytoalexins in plants like beans, roses, and carrots.
He also studied chemotaxonomy. This is about how plants are related based on their chemicals. He wrote about how genes control the colors in primroses and snapdragons. He also researched isoflavones and how chemicals affect nature (called chemical ecology).
Books and Publications
Professor Harborne wrote many books and articles. In his book Phytochemical Methods, he described ways to study plant chemicals. He also wrote Comparative Biochemistry of the Flavonoids, which explained these chemicals in different plants.
He wrote a series of articles about the discovery of anthocyanins and other flavonoids. His book Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry talked about the role of natural substances in nature. This book helped start the study of environmental chemistry. He wrote or edited about 40 books and 270 research papers.
From 1972, Professor Harborne was an editor for the journal Phytochemistry. He was the main editor from 1986 to 1999. He also started the magazine Analysis Phytochemicals.
Key Books by Harborne
- Biochemistry of Phenolic Compounds, 1964
- Comparative Biochemistry of the Flavonoids, 1967
- Phytochemical Methods, 1973 (and later editions)
- Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry, 1977 (and later editions)
- The Handbook of Natural Flavonoids, 1999
Awards and Recognition
Jeffrey Harborne received many awards during his life.
- In 1985, he received the Linnean Medal for his work in botany.
- He also received medals from the Phytochemical Society of Europe (1986) and the International Society of Chemical Ecology (1993).
- In 1993, he won the Pergamon Phytochemistry Prize.
- In 1995, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
- In 2010, the Plant Science Laboratories at the University of Reading were named the Harborne Building to honor him.
Honors and Awards
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, 1956
- Gold Medal in Botany, Linnean Society, 1985
- Fellow of the Linnean Society, 1986
- Silver Medal, Phytochemical Society of Europe, 1986
- Silver Medal, International Society of Chemical Ecology, 1993
- Fellow of the Royal Society, 1995
Personal Life
His niece, Katharine Harborne, also studied plants at the University of Reading. She became a plant pathologist, studying plant diseases.
