John Veron

John Veron (born 1945), complete name John Edward Norwood Veron, credited in research as J. E. N. Veron, and in other writing as Charlie Veron, is a biologist, taxonomist and specialist in the study of corals and reefs.[1] He is believed to have discovered more than twenty percent of the world's coral species.[2]

John Veron
Born
John Edward Norwood Veron

1945
Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of New England (B.A. (Hons) (M.Sc.) (Ph.D.)
Known for
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsAmerican Academy of Underwater Sciences
Australian Marine Sciences Association
Australian Institute of Marine Science
International Society for Reef Studies
James Cook University
Author abbrev. (zoology)J. E. N. Veron

Early life

John Edward Norwood Veron (known as "Charlie" due to his interest in the natural sciences at school)[3] was born in 1945 in Sydney. He attended Barker College in Sydney.[1][3] He won a Commonwealth scholarship as a gifted child and went on study at the University of New England. His main interests were in the natural world, especially marine life.[1] He participated in the scuba club while at university.[4]

His honours thesis was on the behaviour of gliding possums. He took his M.Sc. with a study on the temperature regulation of lizards. Veron completed his PhD with a study on the neurophysiology of dragonflies.[4]

Career

After taking his PhD in 1971, Veron was offered a postdoctoral position at James Cook University to study corals.[5] Veron was the first full-time researcher on the Great Barrier Reef (1972) and the first scientist employed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (1974). He participated in 67 expeditions to all the major reef provinces in the world. He credited "Red" Gilmartin and John W. Wells from Cornell University as key figures in clarifying his interest in taxonomy in the 1970's.[4]

Veron named about 20% of reef corals and built a taxonomic framework for corals that is used throughout the world.[2]

He founded the Orpheus Island Marine Station.

He discovered and delineated the Coral Triangle.

He introduced the concept of reticulate evolution to the marine world.[1]

Recognition

He has many professional awards including:

Writings

Veron has written many books and monographs about corals and coral reefs, including:

  • Veron, Charlie (2017). A Life Underwater. Penguin Random House Australia. ISBN 9781760143633.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Veron, John Edward Norwood (2008). A Reef in Time: The Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674026797.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Veron, John Edward Norwood (2000). Corals of the world. Australian Institute of Marine Science.
  • Veron, John Edward Norwood (1992). Hermatypic corals of Japan. Australian Institute of Marine Science. ISBN 9780642170835.
  • Veron, John Edward Norwood (1995). Corals in Space and Time: The Biogeography and Evolution of the Scleractinia. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0801482631.
  • Veron, John Edward Norwood (1993). Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824815042.
  • Veron, John Edward Norwood; Pichon, Michel (1976). Scleractinia of Eastern Australia. Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 9780642023209.

Later life

Since 2008 he together with colleagues have been producing an open access website about coral taxonomy, biogeography and identification, Corals of The World (www.coralsoftheworld.org). The website includes a mapping program called Coral Geographic and an identification program called CoralID. He has campaigned extensively on climate change, mass bleaching of coral reefs, ocean acidification and related environmental issues.

In 2009, Sir David Attenborough introduced Veron's lecture to the Royal Society.[7]

He was featured in the 2017 documentary Chasing Coral.

gollark: GCSEs are required by schools to do A-levels and universities look at them a little.
gollark: Universities want A-levels directly, not tariff points.
gollark: The tariff points are not very meaningful.
gollark: You simply do qualifications.
gollark: This isn't America or something, you don't accumulate credit from schöol.

References
  1. Veron 2017.
  2. McCalman, Iain (15 April 2014). "The Great Coral Grief". Scientific American. 310 (5): 66–69. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0514-66. ISSN 0036-8733.
  3. Elliott, Tim (14 July 2017). "Live near the beach? Coral reef expert Charlie Veron has some advice for you". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  4. Veron, John Edward Norwood (2001). "Reflections". Atoll research bulletin. 494: 109–117.
  5. McCalman, Iain (2016). "The reef in time: the prophecy of Charlie Veron's living collections In Curating the Future: Museums, Communities and Climate Change". www.taylorfrancis.com. doi:10.4324/9781315620770-30. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  6. "(Reviews of) A Reef in Time — J.E.N. Veron". www.hup.harvard.edu. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  7. McCalman, Iain (2014). "Explorer Pleads to Save the Great Barrier Reef". Scientific American.


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