Throughout 2004, biologist Nicholas Harberd devotedly cycled to a churchyard outside Norwich to record one life: that of a tiny thale-cress plant growing upon a Victorian grave. From his journal came a book, Seed to seed, a dazzling evocation of the beauty of the natural world, and an exhilarating explanation of the workings of plants. In his talk Nicholas will explore the lives of the plants around us, and will recount the story of ten years of his own life in science. Nicholas’ team at the John Innes Centre are trying to understand the genes that shape plants like the thale-cress as they grow. As Nicholas leads you through his scientific life you’ll hear about biology, the nature of scientific endeavour, the appropriateness of wonder and the landscape we see returning to blossom. What better place to consider such matters than the wonderful gardens at Kew?

Nicholas Harberd is one of the world’s leading plant biologists. He directs a research team at the John Innes Centre (Europe’s premier plant and microbial science research institute) and is Honorary Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. He is the author of numerous scientific papers, and has published in the leading international scientific journals Nature and Science.

In association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew