Sandra Knapp
Sandra Knapp is a botanist at the Natural History Museum in London. Her research focuses on the taxonomy and evolution of the paradoxical nightshade family. Her work has been recognised by fellowships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academia Nacional de Ciencias of Argentina and Academia Europeana. She was awarded the Engler Medal in Gold at the International Botanical Congress in 2024 for her lifetime achievements in plant systematics. She is the author of several books about natural history, including Extraordinary Orchids and Flora: an artistic voyage through the world of plants.
Interviews with Sandra Knapp
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1
Our Brains, Our Selves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Taught Him About the Brain
by Masud Husain -
2
Music As Medicine: How We Can Harness Its Therapeutic Power
by Daniel Levitin -
3
Your Life Is Manufactured: How We Make Things, Why It Matters and How We Can Do It Better
by Tim Minshall -
4
The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad: A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City under Siege
by Simon Parkin -
5
Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction
by Sadiah Qureshi -
6
Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and our Future
by Neil Shubin
The Best Popular Science Books of 2025: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Sandra Knapp
The Best Popular Science Books of 2025: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Sandra Knapp
Every year, the judges for the Royal Society Book Prize search for the most informative and most readable new books on scientific subjects. In 2025, their shortlist of the best popular science books includes a history of extinction in the colonial world, and the heartrending story of the struggle to save the world’s first seed bank during the Siege of Leningrad. We spoke to the botanist Dr Sandra Knapp, chair of the judging panel.
