Dr. Hans Lambers was born on a farm in the Netherlands. In 1976, he received an undergraduate degree in biology with a Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. In 1979 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Groningen. After graduating, he did postdoctoral work in Australia at the University of Western Australia, Melbourne University, and the Research School of Biological Science at the Australian National University. He returned to Groningen as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1985, he became the chair of Ecophysiology at Utrecht University. There he continued his research into plant respiration and started a new program on the physiological basis of variation in plant growth rate and productivity. In 1992 he became the Inaugural Head of the School of Plant Biology at the University of Western Australia as well as the Editor in Chief of the periodical Plant and Soil. In 1997, he was elected Fellow of the Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (the Dutch Academy of Sciences). In 1998 published a textbook, Plant Physiological Ecology, coauthored with Dr. F. Stuart Chapin III. In 2001, he became President of the Australian Society of Plant Physiologists for three years. In 2003, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.