Peter Raven – National Geographic Society Newsroom

Peter Raven

Profile
Peter H. Raven, a leading botanist and advocate of conservation and biodiversity, is president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden and George Engelmann Professor of Botany Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis.  In addition, Dr. Raven is a Trustee of the National Geographic Society and Chairman of the Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. For more than 39 years, Dr. Raven headed the Missouri Botanical Garden, an institution he nurtured to become a world-class center for botanical research, conservation, education, and horticulture display.  During this period, the Garden became a leader in botanical research and conservation in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and North America.   He was awarded the U.S. National Medal of Science, highest science award in the country, in 2001.  Described by TIME magazine as a "Hero for the Planet," he has received numerous prizes and awards from throughout the world.  He served for 12 years as Home Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected in 1977. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Philosophical Society, of the academies of science in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Georgia, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine, the U.K. (the Royal Society), and of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).  He is coauthor of Biology of Plants, the best-selling textbook in botany.