Peter H. Raven was born in China and raised in California, where he received his Ph.D. (UCLA, 1960). One of the world's leading botanists and advocates of conservation and biodiversity, Raven is President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Engelmann Professor Emeritus of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition, he is past President (2001-2002) and Chairman of the Board (2002-2003) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and past Chair of the Division of Earth and Life Studies of the National Research Council, (2000-2007).

Described by TIME magazine as a "Hero for the Planet," Raven is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the prestigious International Prize for Biology from the government of Japan (1986); the Environmental Prize of the Institut de la Vie (1990); the Volvo Environment Prize (1992); the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1994), the Sasakawa Environment Prize (1995), and, more recently, the Sibthorp Medal (2004) and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Council for Science and the Environment (2008). He has held Guggenheim and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. He was a member of the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology during the Clinton Administration. In 2000, he received from the President of the United States the National Medal of Science, the highest award for scientific accomplishment in this country. Raven served for 12 years as Home Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences, is a member of the Academies of Science in Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, Georgia, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, the U.K. and several other countries and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, has received honorary degrees from universities in this country and throughout the world, and has been a Trustee of the National Geographic Society since 2008.

Raven is Co-editor of the Flora of China, a joint Chinese-American international project that is leading to a contemporary account on all the plants of China, which will be completed in 2012, in 50 volumes. He has written numerous books and publications, including Biology of Plants (co-authored with Ray Evert and Susan Eichhorn, in its seventh edition), the internationally best-selling textbook in botany, and Environment (co-authored with Linda Berg and David Hassenzahl), now in its eighth edition!