Educated at the University of Sydney where he studied botany and zoology and gained a PhD in genetics. He followed this with post doctoral positions in genetics at the University of Oregon in Eugene and molecular biology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, before returning to Australia to work with the CSIRO. Dr. Peacock is a Member of the Prime Minister?s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) and the National Innovation Council and has served on the Australian Research Council (ARC) Grants Committee, the Australian Science, Technology and Engineering Council (ASTEC) and the Academy of Science's Committee on Recombinant DNA Molecules (ASCORD). In 2000, Dr. Peacock was joint recipient of the inaugural Prime Minister?s Prize for Science. Dr. Peacock has had a distinguished career in science and has received many honours. He was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1994, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in Mar 1982,a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, a Foreign Associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, and a Foundation Member Academia Bibliotheca Alexandrinae. He was appointed Chief Scientist of Australia on a part-time basis in March 2006, and his term concluded on 31 August 2008.