Winslow R. Briggs
Born(1928-04-29)April 29, 1928[1]
Saint Paul, Minnesota[1]
DiedFebruary 11, 2019(2019-02-11) (aged 90)[1]
Stanford, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHarvard University
Known forPhototropism
SpouseAnn Morrill[2]
AwardsInternational Prize for Biology
Guggenheim fellowship
Scientific career
FieldsPlant biology
InstitutionsStanford University

Winslow Russell Briggs (April 29, 1928 – February 11, 2019) was an American plant biologist who introduced techniques from molecular biology to the field of plant biology.[3][1] Briggs was an international leader in molecular biological research on plant sensing, in particular how plants respond to light for growth and development[4] and the understanding of both red and blue-light photoreceptor systems in plants.[1][5] His work has made substantial contributions to plant science, agriculture and ecology.[1]

Briggs served as President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences in 1981.[1] He was the editor of the Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology (later the Annual Review of Plant Biology) from 1973 to 1993.[6][7][8]

Education

Briggs graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1951, a Master of Arts in 1952, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1956.[9]

Career

Between 1955 and 1967, Briggs was an instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and successively became an assistant professor in 1957. In 1962 he was promoted to associate professor and became a professor in 1966. In 1967 he moved to Harvard University as a professor in the Department of Biology.[9]

In 1973 he returned to Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University as a professor and as a Director of the Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science. From 1993 until his death in 2019, he continued to do research as a director emeritus in the Department of Plant Biology at Carnegie Institution for Science.[10]

In addition to memberships in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)[11] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS),[12] Briggs was a member of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (President in 1981),[1] the American Society of Plant Physiologists (chairman 1975-1976),[3] the Botanical Society of America,[13] the Nature Conservancy,[9] and the American Society for Photobiology.[14]

Research

Briggs conducted research on the physiology and biochemistry in the development of plants in response to light. He made major contributions to understanding the biochemical and physical characteristics of photoreceptors of plants. He demonstrated through experiments that the phototropic bending of plant stems to follow a light source has its basis in the transport of auxin. He identified and studied both the red and far-red light photoreceptors of plants and the blue light receptor that mediates phototropism. Using thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) Briggs was able to clone the gene for phototropin.[1][15][16]

According to ISIHighlyCited, Briggs is one of the most cited scientists in the field of botany and zoology. Briggs was (co-) author of articles in journals such as American Journal of Botany, Nature, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Science and Scientific American.[17] Along with John L. Spudich he was editor of the Handbook of Photosensory Receptors (2005). [18]

He was an avid mountaineer and had scaled several prominent peaks.[2] He was a volunteer at Henry W. Coe State Park for 40 years.[19] He organized volunteers in 2007 to study the park's recovery from a wildfire, and discovered that the smoke contained chemicals that helped to stimulate the sprouting of seeds of rare plants that lie dormant and return after a fire.[3]

Briggs died on February 11, 2019, at Stanford Medical Center at the age of 90.[19][10]

Awards and honors

Briggs received many honors during his career.

Briggs has been recognized as a Pioneer Member of the American Society of Plant Biologists. [26]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "In Memory of Winslow Briggs, a Luminary Who Shed Light on Plants and Enlightened People" (PDF). Molecular Plant. 12 (April): 461–463. April 2019. doi:10.1016/j.molp.2019.02.007. S2CID 243026180. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Briggs, Winslow R. (June 2, 2010). "A Wandering Pathway in Plant Biology: From Wildflowers to Phototropins to Bacterial Virulence". Annual Review of Plant Biology. 61 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-042809-112326. PMID 20192732. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Winslow Briggs, who discovered how plant seedlings grow toward light, dies at 90". Carnegie Institution for Science. February 12, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Carnegie's Winslow Briggs Receives International Prize for Biology". Carnegie Institution for Science. September 16, 2009. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  5. ↑ Briggs, Winslow R.; Huala, Eva (November 1999). "Blue-Light Photoreceptors in Higher Plants". Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology. 15 (1): 33–62. doi:10.1146/annurev.cellbio.15.1.33. PMID 10611956. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  6. ↑ Briggs, Winslow R. (1981). "Preface by Winslow R. Briggs". Annual Review of Plant Physiology. 32 (1): annurev.pp.32.101804.100001. doi:10.1146/annurev.pp.32.101804.100001. ISSN 0066-4294.
  7. ↑ Machlis, Leonard (1972). "Preface by Leonard Machlis". Annual Review of Plant Physiology. 23 (1): annurev.pp.23.100504.100001. doi:10.1146/annurev.pp.23.100504.100001. ISSN 0066-4294.
  8. ↑ Jones, Russell L. (1994). "Preface by the Editor". Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology. 45 (1): annurev.pp.45.101804.100001. doi:10.1146/annurev.pp.45.101804.100001. ISSN 1040-2519.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Winslow Russell Briggs, Ph.D., Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who". Who's Who in America. July 10, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  10. 1 2 "In Memory of Winslow R. Briggs (1928-2019)". evolutionsbiologen.de. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  11. 1 2 "Winslow R. Briggs". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Winslow Briggs Minding the gap—between guard cells December 3, 2012". University of Missouri. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  13. 1 2 "Distinguished Fellow of the Botanical Society of America". Botanical Society of America. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  14. 1 2 McDowell, Tina (2009). "Award for Winslow Briggs" (PDF). ASP NEWS. No. Autumn. American Society for Photobiology. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  15. ↑ Kutschera, Ulrich; Wang, Zhi-Yong (October 3, 2019). "Light and plant development: the discovery of phototropins by Winslow R. Briggs (1928–2019)". Plant Signaling & Behavior. 14 (10): e1652521. doi:10.1080/15592324.2019.1652521. PMC 6768212. PMID 31434535.
  16. ↑ Kutschera, Ulrich; Briggs, Winslow R. (March 2012). "Root phototropism: from dogma to the mechanism of blue light perception". Planta. 235 (3): 443–452. doi:10.1007/s00425-012-1597-y. PMID 22293854. S2CID 9599754. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Winslow Briggs' Profile | Stanford Profiles". profiles.stanford.edu.
  18. ↑ Briggs, Winslow R.; Spudich, John L. (2005). Handbook of photosensory receptors. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. ISBN 978-3-527-60510-1. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  19. 1 2 Metzler, Natasha (February 15, 2019). "Plant biologist Winslow Briggs dies at 90". Stanford News. Stanford University. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Winslow Briggs". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  21. ↑ "List of Members". leopoldina.org. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Sterling B. Hendricks Memorial Lectureship". AGRO Division. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  23. ↑ "The Bernard Axelrod Lectures 2008" (PDF). Purdue University. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  24. ↑ Engen, Katie (2010). "Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Awards International Prize for Biology to Winslow Briggs Emperor and Empress of Japan Preside at Prestigious Tokyo Ceremony" (PDF). ASPB News, THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS. 37 (1): 13–15. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  25. ↑ Carnegie Institution for Science (October 14, 2010). "Carnegie's Winslow Briggs elected Einstein Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences Grant and Award Announcement". EurekAlert!. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  26. ↑ "ASPB Pioneer Members".
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