Joseph Smartt

Joseph ("Joe") Smartt (9 September 1931 – 7 June 2013) was a British geneticist with major contributions to the knowledge of crop evolution, especially of grain legumes.

Education and early life Born in West Ham, East London, Smartt graduated from Durham University in 1952 with a botany degree. He was a member of Hatfield College during his undergraduate studies. He then studied at Cambridge University (Christ's College) for a diploma in agricultural science.

Smartt authored two books on grain legumes, edited a major volume on groundnuts, and was invited to co-edit a second edition of the important Evolution of Crop Plants with Professor Norman Simmonds. As a researcher, his most influential work concerned the diversity, evolution, and domestication syndromes in grain legumes.

His hobby of goldfish breeding and judging generated a long-standing research interest in the genetics of goldfish, publishing two books on the subject and serving as scientific adviser to the Goldfish Society of Great Britain.

Selected publications Books

Journal articles