Kingsley Wayne Dixon (Ph.D.) is an Australian botanist currently working as a professor at

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

. He was the founding Director of Science at Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, and helped to establish the laboratories there as among the world's leading.

Early life

Dixon grew up in the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

suburb of

Morley, Western Australia Morley is a suburb of Perth, within the City of Bayswater local government area, situated approximately northeast of the Perth central business district. It contains the Galleria Shopping Centre, one of Perth's larger shopping centres. Morle ...

. He would spend his time exploring the bushland that existed in the suburb during his childhood, which encouraged his interest in botany.

Career

Dixon received a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a PhD from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

(UWA). Dixon was the founding Director of Science at Kings Park and Botanic Gardens from 1982 to 2014. Before working as a professor at

, he was a professor at UWA. One of Dixon's most notable achievements is the 1992 discovery of smoke as a cause for the germination of Australian plants after

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

. He later helped to show that plant species in other parts of the world also have germination caused by smoke, showing that this is not exclusive to plants in fire-prone regions. After this, he started a study with scientists from UWA and

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

to discover the specific chemicals in smoke that cause this effect, testing over 4,000 chemicals and eventually discovering a new molecule, named karrikinolide, after "karrik", the

noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

word for "smoke". The discovery was published in ''Science'' in 2004. Dixon featured on

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

's documentary

The Private Life of Plants ''The Private Life of Plants'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first shown in the United Kingdom from 11 January 1995. A study of the growth, movement, reproduction and survival of plants, it was ...

in 2001. In December 2017, Dixon became a member of the

Lotterywest Lotterywest was established in 1932 as the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia, to run the lottery in Western Australia. It is referred to in the legislation as the Lotteries Commission. It distributes profits to a number of community bene ...

board. Plant species first described by Dixon include '' Caladenia rosea'', '' Caladenia lateritica'', '' Desmocladus glomeratus'' and '' Rhizanthella johnstonii''. '' Caleana dixonii'' was first identified as a distinct species by and named after Dixon.

Awards

* Golden Gecko Awards for Environmental Excellence (1997, 2000, 2008) * Australian Minerals Energy Environment Foundations Awards of Environmental Excellence (1992, 1996) * UWA Chancellor’s Medal (2010) * UWA Award of Honour (2013) *

Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...

(2013) * Western Australian Scientist of the Year (2016) *Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is a learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. It was founded in 1975 as one of Australia's then four learned academies (now five) ...

(2020)

References

External links

Curtin University staff profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Kingsley Curtin University faculty University of Western Australia alumni Kings Park, Western Australia 20th-century Australian botanists Linnean Medallists 1954 births Living people 21st-century Australian botanists

Early life

Career

Awards

See also

References

External links