Ira Rubinoff (born 1938) is an American

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 ...

and was a former director of the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI, ) is located in Panama and is the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States. It is dedicated to understanding the past, present, and future of tropical ecosyst ...

in Panama.

Education

Ira Rubinoff attended

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

, graduating in 1959, and went on to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. It was at Harvard where he studied under

Ernst Mayr Ernst Walter Mayr ( ; ; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was a German-American evolutionary biologist. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher of biology, and ...

. He would graduate from Harvard with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1961, followed by a Ph.D. in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

in 1963. The following year, he started working at the

(STRI), and was the first marine biologist at the facility.

Career

He eventually became assistant director of

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

and was assistant to STRI director Martin Moynihan. At STRI he studied the

evolution of fish Fish began evolving about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull and the vertebral column, leading to the first craniates and vertebrates. The first fish lineag ...

es. At this time, STRI was called the Canal Zone Biological Area. It wasn't until 1966 that it was renamed the STRI. In 1970 Rubinoff became the assistant director of the research facility. Three years later he would become the director. As director of STRI, he focused heavily on

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, creating a $17 million endowment for the facility to fund scholarships and grants. He also modernized the facilities, and a smooth transition during the handing over of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

to the

Panama Canal Authority The Panama Canal Authority (; ACP) is the agency of the government of Panama responsible for the operation and management of the Panama Canal. The ACP took over the administration of the canal from the Panama Canal Commission, the joint US–Pa ...

from the United States. In 2002 and 2007, Rubinoff would also serve as Acting Assistant Secretary and Acting Undersecretary for Science while Smithsonian administration changed. Rubinoff served boards of the Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, the

Charles Darwin Foundation Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) (, ''ECCD'') is a biological research station in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador. The station is operated by the Charles Darwin Foundation which was founded in 1959 under the auspices ...

, and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. In 2011, Rubinoff was the recipient of the Smithsonian's Joseph Henry Medal.

Research

As a

, Rubinoff was influenced by

's in the early 1960s regarding the evolution of fishes at the

Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama, historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North America, North and South America. The country of Panama is located on the i ...

. Mayr assigned Rubinoff to travel to Panama, to study the evolution of various genera of fish of the region. Rubinoff pioneered research regarding the effect of the Panama Canal on the ocean's ecology and the evolution of animals within it. He also helped discover that

yellow-bellied sea snake The yellow-bellied sea snake (''Hydrophis platurus'') is a highly venomous snake, venomous species of snake from the subfamily Hydrophiinae (the sea snakes) found in tropical oceanic waters around the world except for the Atlantic Ocean. For many ...

s can control their

buoyancy Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is the force exerted by a fluid opposing the weight of a partially or fully immersed object (which may be also be a parcel of fluid). In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of t ...

, which allows them to dive as deep as 50 metres and float at certain depths.

Notable awards

*Honorary Member, Association for Tropical Biology

Publications

*Rubinoff, Ira. Eds. S. L. Sutton, T. C. Whitmore and A. C. Chadwick. ''A strategy for preserving tropical forests. In: Tropical Rain Forest: Ecology and Management.'' Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications (1983): 465–476. *Rubinoff, Ira, J. Graham and J. Motta. "Diving behavior of the sea snake Pelamis platurus in the Gulf of Panama - I Depth and Duration of Dives." ''Marine Biology.'' 1986. 91(2): 181–191. *Rubinoff, Ira and Egbert G. Leigh, Jr. "Dealing with Diversity: The Smithsonian Tropical Research and Tropical Biology." ''Trends in Ecology and Evolution.'' 1990. 5(4): 115–118. *Rubinoff, Ira and Nicholas Smythe. "A jungle kept for study." ''New Scientist''. 1982. 95 (1315) 495–499.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinoff, Ira 1938 births American marine biologists Harvard University alumni Queens College, City University of New York alumni Smithsonian Institution people Living people