INTERVIEW

Sir Ghillean Prance

Interviewed by Daniel Edelstein

Posted September 29, 2000 · Issue 87

Background

Born

July 13, 1937, Suffolk, England

Position

Scientific director of the Eden Project in Cornwall

Biography
Graduated from Keble College, Oxford, with a B.A. in botany in 1960. Received a D.Phil. in 1963 for his "Taxonomic Study of Chrysobalanaceae."

He was trained as a plant taxonomist and has spent more than eight years on fieldwork and botanical exploration in Amazonian Brazil. He has a worldwide interest in the sustainable development of rain forest ecosystems and conservation. He is the author of 14 books, editor of 11 books, and has published more than 320 papers of both scientific and general interest on plant systematics, plant ecology, ethnobotany, and conservation.

Sir Ghillean was knighted in July 1995, and in 1999 he received the Victoria Medal of Honour from the Royal Horticultural Society and a Lifetime Discovery Award from the Royal Geographical Society.

How would you describe yourself?

A listener and enthusiast.

What first inspired you to go into your field?

I've really been interested in botany since I was a small child. Basically, I was taught all about plants by two aunts. I've made my hobby my job.

Why do you think you've advanced well in your career?

Hard work and being a very productive scientist. As a result, jobs have come to me rather than me having to go to them.

What do you enjoy about your work?

I love working with plants in any sort of way. I've done a lot of work in the Amazon basin and it's absolutely fascinating for me to notice how plants and animals interact, such as when pollination happens and you see how butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds visit plants, in addition to watching where the pollination gets attached to the plants, and noticing the behavior of these animals.

What do you dislike about your research field?

Nothing.

Are there aspects you would change?

I would change the funding situation. The shortage of funding is a problem in many fields of sciences.

What was your first scientific experiment?

For my dissertation, I worked on the classification of a tropical plant family (Chrysobalanaceae, a member of which is the cocoa plant growing in Florida and in the Caribbean) and realized the classification system needed changing and that I needed to create a more logical classification system.

What were the results of your first experiment?

Very interesting.

How did the experience increase your maturity as a scientist?

I realized there was nothing like fieldwork to bring maturity to my work as a scientist. In the field, I learned to be not only a good scientist, but a good organizer so that everything went smoothly.

What was your high-school science teacher like?

Really enthusiastic.

Did that inspire you?

Yes, it was great because he would take any day off and drive me and other students all around to investigate plants in the field. His enthusiasm inspired many students to get into plants, whether he was spending time with us in the classroom or in the field. He liked building up the museum collections, too, and so he got me interested in collecting and displaying specimens.

What is your proudest achievement?

The work I've done on the history of Amazon flora. My thrust has been to apply this information to get ideas [as to] where the most important centers of diversity and endemism are located within the Amazon, in order to get the backing of South American countries to make conservation preserves in some of these important areas.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

None really, except for some hazardous moments in the field: landing in rapids after overturning in a canoe and crashing in an airplane.

What would be your advice to a younger scientist?

Work hard. Look hard into the area of science that most excites you.

In what areas do you think you need advice yourself?

Spend more time doing my basic research and not so much time on administrative tasks. Returning to the laboratory and spending more time there is what I need most.

What would you be if not a scientist?

I would go into anthropology.

Why?

The time I've spent in the Amazon living among the Indian tribes fascinates me.

Which scientist from history would you like to meet?

Alfred Russel Wallace, who along with Charles Darwin was the cocreator of the theory of evolution. He was a fascinating naturalist with a lot of experience in the same areas where I've done research in tropical Asia and the Amazon.

What would you ask him?

I would like to find his side of the story compared to Darwin's.

Which living scientist do you most admire?

Ernst Mayr, a zoologist and author, whose books I have recently read and find amazing.

What has been the greatest scientific discovery this past century?

The discovery of how the DNA molecule works.

Why that?

It has opened up the new field of molecular study.

What will be the great discoveries of this century?

p>The way in which genes function and linking the genetic codes of genes with the actual morphology of organisms.

What research goals do scientists need to set themselves?

We need them to put forth more educational effort to resolve environmental issues in many areas, from overpopulation to loss of species. This is a terrific challenge for scientists to lead the world to sustainable living.

How has the Internet influenced what you do, other than in providing email?

The Internet has helped me a great deal because there's so much information available. For instance, the institution for which I worked until recently has put out lists of all the plant names in the world, and I can get these on my computer and Internet connection. In addition, I can look at the collections from museums of herbaria worldwide.