Winslow Briggs


Winslow Russell Briggs was an American plant biologist.
Briggs was an international leader in molecular biological research on how plants respond to light for growth and development and for understanding blue-light photoreceptor systems.
In 1952 he graduated from Harvard University with a Ph.D.
Between 1955 and 1967, Briggs was an instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the 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. 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 of Washington. Since 1993, he had been the director emeritus, Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Scientific career

Briggs received several honors during his career. The Botanical Society of America awarded him in 1973 with a Certificate of Merit. He was elected in 1974 as a member of the US National Academy of Science. In 1986 he was elected as a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina. He also became the Academy Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. In 1995 he was awarded the Sterling Hendricks Medal from the United States Department of Agriculture and the American Chemical Society. In 1999 appointed to the Michigan State University him "Anton Lang Lecturer". The Purdue University appointed him in 2001 to 'Bernard Axelrod Lecturer". The Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg awarded him in 2002 an honorary doctorate. The University of Florida appointed him, in 2002, distinguished lecturer.
In addition to his memberships of science academies, Briggs was a member of organizations like the Botanical Society of America, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Society of Plant Physiologists and the American Society for Photobiology.
Briggs conducted research on the physiology and biochemistry in the development of plants, especially in response to light. He also examines the biochemical and physical characteristics of photoreceptors of plants. Here he uses the thale cress.
He was an avid mountaineer and had scaled several prominent peaks. He was a volunteer at Henry W. Coe State Park for 40 years.
Briggs was 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. Along with John L. Spudich he was editor of the Handbook of Sensory Receptors Photo published in 2005. According to ISIHighlyCited, Briggs is one of the most cited scientists in the field of botany and zoology.
Briggs died on February 11, 2019, at Stanford Medical Center at the age of 90.