Peter Crane

Sir Peter Crane (born 18 July 1954) is the current president of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation and senior research scientist in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. In addition to his work in leading and developing educational and natural history organizations, including the Field Museum in Chicago and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, he has had a long career as a professor and researcher in both the UK and the United States. He is best known for his work on the origin and early evolution of flowering plants (angiosperms) based on studies of the plant fossil record. His popular writing includes Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot, a book that traces the evolution and cultural history of Ginkgo biloba.

Personal life and education Peter Crane was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. He attended Kettering Grammar School where he developed a strong interest in local history and archaeology as well as plants, and the University of Reading, where he received his BSc in botany, with honours, in 1975. He received his Ph.D. in Botany from Reading in 1981, having also served on the faculty there from 1978 with his thesis, "Studies on the Flora of the Reading Beds (Upper Palaeocene)."

Crane is married with two children, a daughter and son.

Career Peter Crane has held positions at the University of Reading (1978-1981), the Field Museum (1982-1999), the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999-2006), the University of Chicago (2006-2009), Yale University (2009-2016) and the Oak Spring Garden Foundation (2016–present), among others. He has also held visiting or part-time positions at universities and museums around the world. The following section discusses some of his professional accomplishments in more detail. His tenure as Director of the Field Museum saw strengthening of the museum's programs in collections and research as well as the creation of two cross departmental units, the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change, and the Office of Environmental and Conservation Programs. His time as Director also included the acquisition of "Sue," a well-preserved and almost complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Sue has since become an iconic fixture at the Field Museum.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew In 1999, Crane left the Field Museum to become director and chief executive of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Crane sought to better connect the conservation and botanical work at Kew with the public side of the institution. True to his word, Crane left Kew in 2006 to return to the United States, taking a University Professorship at the University of Chicago. His arrival coincided with the rippling effects of the late 2008 Great Recession, and Crane played an important role in stabilizing the school's finances. Among his many other duties, he was involved in a variety of projects to provide student financial support and to increase student involvement in research. He also forged connections with other graduate programs (including the Yale School of Management). Crane also recruited several scholars to the school and sought to strengthen programs supporting diversity and inclusion. In regards to research, Crane worked to increase research collaboration within the school.

Oak Spring Garden Foundation In June 2016, Crane moved to northern Virginia to lead The Oak Spring Garden Foundation, a nascent nonprofit founded by the landscape designer and fashion icon Rachel "Bunny" Lambert Mellon. Located on part of the Mellons' former Virginia estate, called Oak Spring, the Foundation's mission is to "support and inspire fresh thinking and bold action on the history and future of plants, including the art and culture of plants, gardens and landscapes." Containing Bunny Mellon's gardens and rare book library, the Oak Spring Garden Foundation supports research and scholarship relating to the diversity and future of plants; the art of plants, gardens, and landscapes. Crane is the inaugural president of the foundation. He was awarded a knighthood on 12 June 2004 in the 2004 Birthday Honours for services to horticulture and conservation. In 2014 he was awarded the International Prize for Biology. In 2024 he was awarded the Darwin-Wallace Medal by the Linnean Society.

He is the recipient of several honorary degrees including from Sewanee: The University of the South and the University of Connecticut in the United States, and the University of Kingston, the University of Portsmouth and Cambridge University in the UK.