Person
Pickett-Heaps, Jeremy David (1940 - 2021)
FAA FRS
- Born
- 5 June 1940
Bombay, India - Died
- 11 April 2021
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Botanist and Cell biologist
Summary
Jeremy David Pickett-Heaps was a renowned researcher distinguished for his many discoveries in the field of plant cell biology. He studied algae and other protists for what they could teach us about all cells. In proposing the seminal concept of the microtubule organising centre, he founded a major field of research. He discovered the preprophase band of microtubules and pointed out its significance as a predictor of the site of division in higher plant cells. His wide-ranging ultrastructural work led him to a new and now accepted view of evolutionary relationships in the algae and the origin of higher plants. Pickett-Heaps was an early adopter of the electron microscope and mastered time-lapse micro-cinematography. After six years at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, he moved to the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado where he spent 18 years. In 1988 he was appointed Professor of Botany at the University of Melbourne.
Details
Chronology
- 1962
- Education - BA, University of Cambridge
- 1965
- Education - PhD, University of Cambridge
- 1965 - 1968
- Career position - Research Fellow, John Curtin School of Medical Research
- 1968 - 1970
- Career position - Fellow, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University
- 1970 - 1972
- Career position - Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
- 1972 - 1978
- Career position - Associate Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
- 1974
- Award - Darbaker Prize, American Botanical Society
- 1978 - 1988
- Career position - Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
- 1988 - 2002
- Career position - Professor, School of Botany, University of Melbourne
- 1992 - 2021
- Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science
- 1995 - 2021
- Award - Fellow, Royal Society, London
- 2001
- Award - Centenary Medal for service to an society and science in cell morphogenesis and division
- 2008
- Award - Award for Excellence, Phycological Society of America
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Pickett-Heaps, J. D., Green algae: structure, reproduction and evolution in selected genera (Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinaur Associates, ), 606 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Anon, 'Obituary: Professor Jeremy Pickett-Heaps FAA FRS 5 June 1940 to 11 April 2021', Newsletter, Australian Academy of Science, 148 (2021), 111, https://www.science.org.au/files/userfiles/events/newsletters/148/academy-newsletter-148-april-2021.pdf. Details
- Beech, Peter and Forer, Arthur, 'Jeremy David Pickett-Heaps 5 June 1940 - 11 April 2021, elected FRS 1995', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 77 (2024), 315-33, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbm.2023.0017. Details
- Beech, Peter and Forer, Arthur, 'Jeremy David Pickett-Heaps 1940 - 2021', Historical Records of Australian Science, 36 (2024), 11, https://doi.org/10.106=71/HR24017. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21165499. Details
- 'Pickett-Heaps, Jeremy David (1940-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1475873. Details
Rosanne Walker and Helen Cohn
Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 17 April 2025