Dr Jim Peacock, AC
CSIRO Fellow
Dr Jim Peacock (AC, FAA, FRS, FTSE, FAIAST) is a Fellow in CSIRO. Dr Peacock was Australia's Chief Scientist from March 2006-August 2008. Dr Peacock is an outstanding scientist with a record of academic excellence and is highly respected by the science, engineering and technology community.
Dr Peacock is an award winning molecular biologist and fervent science advocate. He is recognised internationally as an eminent researcher in the field of plant molecular biology and its applications in agriculture.
In 1994, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia for outstanding service to science, particularly in the field of molecular biology and to science education. Dr Peacock is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of The Royal Society of London, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Dr Peacock is a strong advocate for the integration of science and global business. He drives innovative communication efforts to inform the general public as to the outcomes and value of modern science. He has brought the excitement of science to a broad cross-section of the community and to Australian school students.
Dr Peacock has been awarded many honours recognising his scientific achievements including being elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society (UK) in 1982, winning the BHP Bi-centennial prize for Science Excellence in 1988 and being elected to the elite group of Foreign Associates of US National Academy of Sciences in 1990 and a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.
In 2000 together with Dr Liz Dennis, he was awarded the preeminent Prime Minister's Prize for Science Award, for his part in the discovery of the Flowering Switch Gene, a key gene in determining when plants end their vegetative growth phase and begin flowering.
