Paul Brakefield facts for kids
Paul Martin Brakefield, born on May 31, 1952, in Woking, England, is a famous British scientist. He is an evolutionary biologist, which means he studies how living things change over long periods. He is also a Professor of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. Zoology is the study of animals.
Professor Brakefield was a Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. Until 2019, he was also the director of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. Before that, he was a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands. From 2015 to 2018, he was the President of the Linnean Society of London, a group for natural history. He is most famous for his amazing research on the "eyespots" found on butterflies.
Career Highlights
Professor Brakefield started his work as a Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1987. He worked there for 23 years.
In 2010, he moved to the University of Cambridge in the UK. There, he became the director of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. A year later, in 2011, he was chosen as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. From May 2015 to May 2018, Professor Brakefield was the President of the Linnean Society of London.
Research on Butterflies
Professor Brakefield mostly studies butterflies and other insects. A big part of his research looks at the special "eyespots" that many butterflies have on their wings. These spots often look like the eyes of bigger animals. They can help butterflies scare away predators or trick them into attacking the wrong part of their body.
He has done a lot of work with a specific butterfly species called Bicyclus anynana. This butterfly is very useful for studying how eyespots develop and change. Another butterfly species, Bicyclus brakefieldi, was even named after him to honor his important contributions to science!
Awards and Recognition
Professor Brakefield has received many important awards for his scientific work. In 2010, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
In 2011, he became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. This shows how much his work is valued in the Netherlands. He was also elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2014.
