John Edward Norwood Veron (born 1945), credited in research as J. E. N. Veron, and in other writing as Charlie Veron, is an Australian biologist, taxonomist, and specialist in the study of

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s and

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition of sand or wave eros ...

. He is believed to have discovered more than 20% of the world's coral species.

Early life and education

John Edward Norwood Veron (known as "Charlie" due to his interest in the natural sciences at school) was born in 1945 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. He attended

Barker College Barker College is an independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, primary and secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school, located in Hornsby, New ...

in Sydney. He won a Commonwealth scholarship as a gifted student and went on study at the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 26,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 6,000 students See also * New England Coll ...

. His main interests were in the natural world, especially marine life. He participated in the scuba club while at university. His honours thesis was on the behaviour of

gliding possum There are many different types of gliding possum, sometimes referred to as :wikt:volplane, volplane possum, flying phalangers, or simply as gliders, endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Taxonomically, gliding possums occupy three genera. ''Acrobate ...

s. 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, awarded in 1971.

Career

After completing his PhD, Veron was offered a postdoctoral position at

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

to study corals. He was the first full-time researcher on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

(1972) and the first scientist employed by the

Australian Institute of Marine Science Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

(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 Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

as key figures in clarifying his interest in taxonomy in the 1970s. Veron named about 20% of reef corals and built a taxonomic framework for corals that is used throughout the world. He founded the

Orpheus Island Orpheus Island National Park is a national park on Orpheus Island, in North Queensland, Australia. The Aboriginal (possibly Nyawaygi) name for this island is Goolboddi Island. It is one of the Palm Islands group, northwest of Brisbane, as is ...

Marine Station. He discovered and delineated the

Coral Triangle The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in each ...

. He introduced the concept of

reticulate evolution Reticulate evolution, or network evolution is the origination of a lineage through the partial merging of two ancestor lineages, leading to relationships better described by a phylogenetic network than a bifurcating tree. Reticulate patterns can ...

to the marine world.

Recognition

In 2009, Sir

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

introduced Veron's lecture to the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He was featured in the 2017 documentary ''

Chasing Coral ''Chasing Coral'' is a 2017 American documentary film about a team of divers, scientists and photographers around the world who document the disappearance of coral reefs. ''Chasing Coral'' was produced by Exposure Labs and directed by Jeff Orlows ...

''. A sculpture of Veron, called "The Godfather of Coral", was created by

Jason deCaires Taylor Jason deCaires Taylor (born 12 August 1974 in Dover) is a British sculptor and creator of the world's first underwater sculpture park – the Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park – and underwater museum – Cancún Underwater Museum (MUSA). He is ...

for the

Museum of Underwater Art The Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) is a series of underwater art installations near Townsville, Australia. It is the only underwater art museum in the Southern Hemisphere and consists of three sculptures created by British sculptor Jason deCaire ...

as part of the ''Ocean Sentinels'' above the surface exhibition in 2022. He has received many professional awards, including: * Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Award (

American Academy of Underwater Sciences The American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) is a group of scientific organizations and individual members who conduct scientific and educational activities underwater. It was organized in 1977 and incorporated in the State of California in ...

) *

Darwin Medal The Darwin Medal is one of the medals awarded by the Royal Society for "distinction in evolution, biological diversity and developmental, population and organismal biology". In 1885, International Darwin Memorial Fund was transferred to the ...

(

International Society for Reef Studies The International Coral Reef Society (ICRS; previously the International Society for Reef Studies) is an international, not-for profit, scientific society dedicated to the conservation of coral reefs through science and understanding. Founded in 19 ...

) * Silver Jubilee Pin (Australian Marine Sciences Association) *

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

for "service to marine research", 2021 *Ocean Sentinel sculpture (

)

Other activities and achievements

Since 2008 Veron and several colleagues have been producing an open access website about coral taxonomy,

biogeography Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities o ...

and identification, ''Corals of The World''. 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 Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's ocean. Between 1950 and 2020, the average pH of the ocean surface fell from approximately 8.15 to 8.05. Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are the primary cause of ...

, and related environmental issues.

Publications

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

References

External links

Corals of the World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veron, John Australian marine biologists 21st-century Australian zoologists Marine zoologists 1945 births Living people 20th-century Australian zoologists Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia People educated at Barker College University of New England (Australia) alumni Australian taxonomists 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers 21st-century Australian non-fiction writers James Cook University alumni Australian academics