John P. Smol, is a Canadian ecologist, limnologist and paleolimnologist who is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Biology at

Queen's University, Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

, Ontario, where he also held the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change for the maximum of three 7-year terms (2001–2021). He founded and co-directs the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL).John Smol's

Early life

John Smol was born in Montreal, Canada. Both his parents were originally from Czechoslovakia. His mother was a war refugee and his father a political defector, who met in the immigrant sections of Montreal. His father was killed by a drunk driver in a car accident when Smol was 8 years old. He has three siblings, all of whom are in academia/education.

Education

Smol was educated at McGill University (BSc),Algal blooms Brock University (MSc),Paleolimnology of selected Precambrian Shield lakes and Queen's University (PhD).Postglacial changes in fossil algal assemblages from three Canadian lakes

Career and research

Smol works on a diverse range of subjects, most of which focus on using lake sediments to reconstruct past environmental trends. Topics include: lake acidification caused by

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...

, sewage input and fertilizer runoff ( eutrophication), studies of nutrient and contaminant transport by birds and other biovectors, and a large program on climatic change. For about three decades, he has been leading research in the high

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

, studying the present-day ecology of polar lakes and ponds, and then using paleolimnological approaches to determine how these ecosystems have been changing due to natural and

anthropogenic Anthropogenic ("human" + "generating") is an adjective that may refer to: * Anthropogeny, the study of the origins of humanity Anthropogenic may also refer to things that have been generated by humans, as follows: * Human impact on the enviro ...

stressors. The author or editor of 24 books and over 700 journal publications and book chapters, Smol is an international lecturer and media commentator on a variety of topics, but most dealing with environmental issues. From 1987 to 2007, he edited the ''Journal of Paleolimnology''. Since 2004, he has been editor of the journal ''Environmental Reviews''. He is the series editor of the ''Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research'' book series. He held the Chair of the International Paleolimnology Association for two three-year terms ending in August 2018, and until recently was President (2019–2022) of the Academy of Science,

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

Honours and awards

Among over 100 awards and fellowships, Smol is the recipient of the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, given by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ( NSERC) to honour Canada's top scientist or engineer. He also holds the distinction of being awarded four individual medals from the

, namely: the Miroslaw Romanowski Medal for significant contributions to the resolution of environmental problems; the Flavelle Medal for outstanding contribution to biological science; the McNeil Medal for the Public Awareness of Science; and the Sir John William Dawson Medal for important and sustained contributions in two domains (in his case, geology and biology) of interdisciplinary research. Smol was 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) in 2018. He holds seven honorary degrees: LLD, St Francis Xavier University (2003); PhD,

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

(2007); DSc,

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

(2012); LLD, Mount Allison University (2016); DSc, Ryerson University (2016); DSc, Western University (

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

) (2017); DSc,

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...

(2024). In 2013 he was named an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. The Vega Medal from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG) was presented to Smol in 2023. Smol was made a Member of the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...

for the class of 2022.

Selected publications

JPS Vega lecture April 21 2023 Stockholm

* * * * * * * * John Smol Victoria Strait Expedition Sept14

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smol, John 1955 births Living people Canadian limnologists Canadian ecologists Canadian fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Officers of the Order of Canada Scientists from Montreal Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences