Jennifer Thomson facts for kids

Jennifer Ann Thomson was born on June 16, 1947. She is a scientist from South Africa who studies tiny living things, like bacteria and viruses. This field is called microbiology. She is also an expert on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and believes they can help farming.

Jennifer Thomson was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Today, she is a professor at the University of Cape Town, which is where she also studied.

Her Journey in Science

Jennifer Ann Thomson studied at several universities around the world, especially in South Africa. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Cape Town. Then, she received a Master of Arts in Genetics from Cambridge University in the UK. She also earned her PhD in Microbiology from Rhodes University in South Africa.

After her studies, she worked as a researcher at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA.

Becoming a Professor

Dr. Thomson started her teaching career as a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Later, she created a special lab for studying tiny living things at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. She was also the director of this lab.

Now, she is a professor at the University of Cape Town. She teaches about microbiology and helps lead the science department. She also helps many groups that work on science and farming, like the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, where she is the President.

Amazing Research Work

Dr. Thomson leads a team that is working on a very important project. They are developing a type of maize (which is also known as corn) that can fight off a serious plant disease called the African maize streak virus (MSV). This virus makes corn plants stop growing.

Her team is also trying to make corn plants that can survive drought, which means they can grow even when there isn't much rain. This is very important because many people in Africa face hunger due to poor harvests.

GMOs for Good

Dr. Thomson uses GMOs in her research. GMOs are plants or animals that have had their genes changed in a lab to give them new traits, like being able to resist diseases or drought. She believes GMOs are a helpful tool to solve problems like food shortages.

The special corn her team developed is the first genetically modified crop ever created in Africa, by African scientists, to help solve an African problem. So far, this corn has shown great success in protecting against the virus and drought.

Awards and Honors

Dr. Thomson has received many important awards for her work.

• She won the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science. This award celebrates women who have made amazing contributions to science.
• She also received an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne in France.
• The Women's Bureau from South Africa gave her two awards: the Four Outstanding SA Woman Achiever of the Year award and the Four Outstanding Young SA Woman Achiever of the Year award.
• She was recognized as a Fellow by the Royal Society of South Africa.
• Most recently, a group in Italy called the Accademia dei Lincei gave her the International Prize for the Protection of Human Rights.

See also

In Spanish: Jennifer Thomson para niños