Eva Crane (Ethel Eva Widdowson), (born June 12, 1912, London, Eng.—died Sept. 6, 2007, Slough, Berkshire, Eng.), British bee scientist who tirelessly amassed and disseminated knowledge about bees and beekeeping, becoming one of the world’s foremost authorities on bees. Crane earned a master’s degree in quantum mechanics from Kings College, London, and a Ph.D. (1938) in nuclear physics from the University of London. She was teaching (1941–43) physics at Sheffield University when her interest in apiculture was piqued by a colony of bees she received in 1942 as a wedding gift. She soon joined the British Beekeepers’ Association, becoming secretary of its research committee. Crane founded (1949) the Bee Research Association (from 1976, the International Bee Research Association) and directed it until 1984. She edited Bee World and the Journal of Apicultural Research (1949–84 and 1962–82, respectively), compiled and edited (1950–84) Apicultural Abstracts, and wrote more than 180 articles, papers, and books, including the encyclopaedic Bees and Beekeeping: Science, Practice, and World Resources (1990) and The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting (1999). Crane was created OBE in 1986.