Rothamsted Research
UK
Dr. John A. Pickett
Dr. John Pickett was appointed head of the Insecticides and Fungicides Department (later the Department of Biological Chemistry) of Rothamsted Research in 1984 and, concurrently in 2007, scientific director of the Rothamsted Centre for Sustainable Pest and Disease Management. In 2010 he relinquished these positions on being awarded the first Michael Elliott Distinguished Research Fellowship at Rothamsted. As well as fulfilling this prestigious new role, he continues to contribute to the Chemical Ecology group and is still very much involved with research activities in the UK and around the world.
He has more than 480 publications and patents. John’s contributions to the field of chemical ecology have been acknowledged with the 1995 Rank Prize for Nutrition and Crop Husbandry, election to fellowship of the Royal Society in 1996, the 2002 International Society of Chemical Ecology Medal, appointment to CBE for services to Biological Chemistry in 2004, and the Wolf Foundation Prize in Agriculture in 2008, among many other international measures of esteem.
He also presented, in 2008, the Royal Society’s premier lecture in the biological sciences, the Croonian Prize Lecture, and the Cornell University Lecture in 2009. He was awarded the International Congress of Entomology Certificate of Distinction, presented at the XXIV International Congress of Entomology in Daegu, Korea. In June 2014 he became president of the Royal Entomological Society, and in April 2014 he was elected foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.