Michael Thomas Jackson

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. (born 1948). Plant taxonomist, appointed as an OBE in the New Year's Honours List (2012) for services to international food science. Studied Environmental Botany and Geography at the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

(1970), at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

on the M.Sc. course in the 'Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources' (1971) followed by a Ph.D. on researching the evolution of the

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

, much of it based in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Then at the

International Potato Center The International Potato Center (known as CIP from its Spanish-language name ''Centro Internacional de la Papa'') is a research facility based in Lima, Peru, that seeks to reduce poverty and achieve food security on a sustained basis in develop ...

(CIP),

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, Peru, until 1981. He taught plant taxonomy and crop plant evolution at the University of Birmingham (1981 - 1991). Next he was at the

International Rice Research Institute The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training organization with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, and offices in seventeen countries. IRRI is known for its w ...

(IRRI) in the Philippines (1991 - 2010). He was Head of the Genetic Resources Center at IRRI (1991 - 2001), which included responsibility for managing the International Rice

Genebank A gene bank is a type of biorepository that is used across the world to store the genetic material of animals, plants, and other organisms. It preserves their genetic information in the form of reproductive material like seeds, sperm, eggs, embr ...

Collection (IRGC), and from 2001 until he retired in 2010 he was IRRI's Director for Program Planning and Communications. He has published over 100 articles. Elected a Fellow of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

in 1972.

References

1948 births British botanists Officers of the Order of the British Empire Academics of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Southampton Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Living people {{UK-botanist-stub