Richard Charles Thompson is a

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

who researches marine litter. At the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

he is director of the Marine Institute; professor of Marine Biology; and leads the International Marine Litter Research Unit. Thompson coined the term "

microplastics Microplastics are "synthetic solid particles or polymeric matrices, with regular or irregular shape and with size ranging from 1 μm to 5 mm, of either primary or secondary manufacturing origin, which are insoluble in water." Microplastics a ...

" in 2004. In 2025, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine listed him as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Education

Thompson was educated at University of Newcastle and the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, where he was awarded a Ph.D in 1996.

Career and research

Thompson's paper, ''Lost at Sea: Where is All the Plastic?'', published in the journal ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' in 2004, was the first to use the term

, which has since become common parlance. Since 2010 he has been professor of Marine Biology at the

. Since 2018 he has also been director of the Marine Institute, part of the School of Biological and Marine Sciences at the University. He also leads the University's International Marine Litter Research Unit. He is a co-coordinator of The Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, and in September 2024 led a further study - also published in ''

'' - which stated that after two decades of research into

, the world had sufficient evidence to agree global action to tackle them.

Publications

*Thompson, Richard. (2006). Plastics. In: ''Dominant Wave Theory.'' By Andrew Hughes. Pp. 112–116. London: Booth-Clibborn, 2006. . New York: Abrams, 2007. . *" Marine Strategy Framework Directive: TaskGroup 10 Report: Marine Litter." Luxembourg:

Publications Office of the European Union The Publications Office of the European Union is the official provider of publishing services and data, information and knowledge management services to all EU institutions, bodies and agencies. This makes it the central point of access to EU law ...

, 2010. Galgani, F., Fleet, D., van Franeker, J., Katsanevakis, S., Maes, T., Mouat, J.Oosterbaan, L., Poitou, I., Hanke, G., Thompson, R., Amato, E., Birkun A., and Janssen, C. . *
Marine Debris as a Global Environmental Problem: Introducing a solutions based framework focused on plastic: A STAP Information Document: November 2011
'' Washington, DC: Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel,

Global Environment Facility The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral environmental fund that provides grants and blended finance for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants (P ...

, 2011. Richard C. Thompson, Bruce E. La Belle, Hindrik Bouwman, and Lev Neretin. Thompson was lead author. *
Impacts of Marine Debris on Biodiversity: Current status and Potential Solutions
'' CBD Technical Series No. 67. Montreal: Secretariat of the

Convention on Biological Diversity The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its ...

; Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel—GEF, 2012. . Thompson was lead author. *Readman, J.W., DeLuna, F. Ebinhaus, R., Guzman, A.N., Price A.R.G., Readman, E.E. Sheppard, A.L.S., Sleight, A.S. Strum, R. Thompson, R.C. Tonkin, A.Wolschke, H., Wright, R., and Sheppard, R.C. (2013) ''Coral Reefs of the World.'' *Thompson, R.C. (2013) Plastics, Environment and Health. In: ''Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastics.'' Edited by Gabrys, J., Hawkins, G. and Michael, M. Hardback: Routledge, 2013. . Paperback: Routledge, 2017. . Pp. 150–169.

Awards and honours

*2016: Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation from the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

and Marsh Christian Trust *2018:

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for services to marine science * 2020: Elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) * Volvo Environment Prize (2022) *

Blue Planet Prize The Blue Planet Prize recognises outstanding efforts in scientific research or applications of science that contribute to solving global environmental problems. The prize was created by the Asahi Glass Foundation in 1992, the year of the Rio Ear ...

(2023) * 2024: Thompson was named in Time's list of influential people in health. In 2016, Professor Thompson was referred to by

Mary Creagh Mary Helen Creagh (born 2 December 1967) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry East since 2024, having previously served as MP for Wakefield (UK Parliament cons ...

as "The Godfather of Microplastics" during a public inquiry into the Environmental Impact of Microplastics by the

Environmental Audit Select Committee The Environmental Audit Select Committee is a Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine ho ...

. This

moniker A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

has since been repeated extensively by media outlets across the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Richard Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Newcastle University British marine biologists Academics of the University of Plymouth Fellows of the Royal Society Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of the British Empire