Scientist who became ‘queen of beekeeping’ honoured

Born in London in 1912, Dr Crane was a mathematician and physicist who became fascinated by bees after she and husband, James Crane, received a hive for a wedding present in 1942. She travelled the world gathering material for a series of books which are legendary in the bee world. But for many years, her day job was lecturing on nuclear physics, first in Hull and then Sheffield. She returned to Hull in 1946 where three years later she founded the International Bee Research Association at 55 Newland Park. Dr Crane later moved south and died in Slough, Berkshire, in 2007.

The plaque was unveiled by Richard Jones, the chairman of the Eva Crane Trust, and Dr Chris Coulson, the chairman of Beverley Beekeepers’ Association. Dr Coulson said when Dr Crane got married “she found bee-keeping more interesting”, adding: “Thank goodness for that, because she has done a great deal of good in the bee-keeping world.”

She travelled to more than 60 countries, often under primitive conditions, and wrote over 180 papers, articles, and books, many when she was aged in her 70s and 80s, including two tomes which are regarded as seminal textbooks.