Persona

Simpson, Graham Miller, 1931-

Graham Miller Simpson was born on December 21, 1931 in the New Zealand capital of Wellington. He earned a B.A.Sc. in Crop Science and M.A.Sc. in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry at Massey College, New Zealand before completing a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from Wye College, University of London in 1959. He joined U of S Department of Crop Science in 1959 as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and rose through the ranks becoming a Full-Professor in 1970. Other appointments included Director of the Crop Development Centre, 1971-1974 and Director of the International Development Research Centre, Saskatoon Drought Project 1974-1982. Internationally known for his work on wild oats, the effects of drought conditions and seed dormancy in grasses, Simpson has a number of publications to his credit including the books Water Stress On Plants (1980) and Seed Dormancy in Grasses (1990). Dr. Simpson also maintains the Bibliography of Seed Dormancy which is a data base of 12,000 items covering material from the world literature on seed dormancy and germination from the 1890's to the present. In addition to serving on several departmental, college and university committees, Simpson was active in the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association and an advocate of world peace and international development. He retired in 1999 and was named Professor Emeritus, Department of Plant Sciences, College of Agriculture.