Japan Prize Laureates

Laureates of the Japan Prize

Dr. John Frederick Grassle

John Frederick Grassle, Ph. D.

  • Nationality:
    USA
  • Date of Birth:
    14 July 1939

Outline of Achievements

Outline of Achievements

The 2013 Japan Prize

  • Field:
    Biological Production and Biological Environment
  • Achievement:
    Contribution to marine environmental conservation through research on ecology and biodiversity of deep-sea organisms
  • Lecture:
    A New Appreciation of Ocean Life

Major Honors

2005 Grand Prix des Sciences de la Mer Albert 1er de Monaco, for "major contributions to the advancement of sciences throughout the world"
2008 National Water Quality Monitoring Council's Vision Award
2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science
2011 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, A.C. Redfield Lifetime Achievement Award
2011 International Cosmos Prize, presented by the Expo 90 Foundation to the Census of Marine Life Scientific Steering Committee

Academic Degrees

1961 Yale University, B.S. in Zoology
1967 Duke University, Ph.D. in Benthic Ecology and Ocean Biogeography

Professional Career

1967-1969 US Government Postdoctoral Grant - Fulbright-Hays Act University of Queensland, Australia
1969-1973 Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
1974-1978 Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
1978-1989 Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
1989-1996 Adjunct Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
1989-2008 Professor II and Founding Director, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
2008-2012 Professor II, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Present Professor Emeritus, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Major Publications

  • Grassle, J. F., Patil, G. P. Smith, W., and Taille, C. (eds.). Ecological diversity in theory and practice. International Cooperative Publishing House, Fairland, Maryland. 365 pp. (1979)
  • Grassle, J. F. In situ studies of deep-sea communities, pp. 321-332. In: J. P. Diemer, F. J. Vernberg and D. Z. Mirkes (eds.). Advanced Concepts in Ocean Measurements. Belle W. Baruch Library of Marine Science No. 10, Univ. S. Carolina Press. (1980)
  • Grassle, J. F. Hydrothermal vent animals: distribution and biology. Science 229:713-717. (1985)
  • Grassle, J. F. The ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities. Adv. Mar. Biol. 23:301-362. (1986)
  • Grassle, J. F. and Maciolek, N. J. Deep-sea species richness: regional and local diversity estimates from quantitative bottom samples. Amer. Nat. 139(2):313-341. (1992)
  • Snelgrove, P. V. R., Grassle, J. F., and Petrecca, R. F. The role of food patches in maintaining high deep-sea diversity: field experiments using hydrodynamically unbiased colonization trays. Limnol. Oceanog. 37:1543-1550. (1992)
  • Grassle, J. F. The ocean biogeographic information system (OBIS): an on-line, worldwide atlas for accessing, modeling and mapping marine biological data in a multidimensional context. Oceanography 13(3):5-9. (2000)
  • Zhang, Y. and Grassle, J. F. A portal for the Ocean Biogeographic
    Information System. Oceanologica Acta 25:193-197. (2003)
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