Plant scientist wins Linnean Medal

Professor Kingsley Dixon, Director of Science at Kings Park and Botanic Garden and Permanent Visiting Professor at the School of Plant Biology at the University of Western Australia, has been awarded the Linnean Medal in the field of Botany in London.

Dixon is the second Australian to be awarded the medal, which is the premier annual award of the world’s oldest learned Society devoted to biology, the Linnean Society of London. Founded in 1788, the Society took its name from the great Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the father of modern ecology.

The Society aims to promote the study of the biological sciences, with particular emphasis on evolution, taxonomy, biodiversity and sustainability.

Biodiversity is the focus of many of Dixon’s research programs and the medal was presented to him in recognition of outstanding scientific achievement. It acknowledges his scientific approach based on effective solutions for conservation and restoration.

Some of Dixon’s achievements include:

• involvement in the breakthrough discovery of the chemical in smoke responsible for germination of many Australian native plants that has transformed Australia’s horticultural, mining restoration and conservation industries 
• collaborative work in orchid biology and ecology research that has attracted the wide attention of international scientists including research on the hormones used by orchids that provide a female mimic to attract male wasps through a process known as sexual deception
• leading discoveries in the restoration sciences that promise to improve on-farm and post-mining restoration.

Dixon has published 319 scientific works, including eight books. His work in seed science and biology, which had demonstrated how seed can be used to optimise restoration benefits, has resulted in a broad suite of industry and research support amounting to 25 industry and 16 nationally competitive grants.

Past recipients, who are among the most noted scientists of their time, include Thomas Huxley (1825-1895) and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), co founder of the theory of evolution.