John Smol Explained

John P. Smol
Birth Name:John P. Smol
Birth Place:Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Thesis Title:Postglacial changes in fossil algal assemblages from three Canadian lakes
Thesis Url:https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15941406
Thesis Year:1982
Nationality:Canadian
Field:Limnology
Paleolimnology
Limnogeology
Arctic
Diatoms
Work Institutions:Queen's University
Awards: (1992)
Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering (2004)
Flavelle Medal (2008)
Vega Medal (2023)
Known For:Advancements in the field of long-term environmental change

John P. Smol, [1] is a Canadian ecologist, limnologist and paleolimnologist who is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Biology[2] at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, where he also held the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change for the maximum of three 7-year terms (2001–2021).[3] He founded and co-directs the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL).[4] [5]

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),[6] Brock University (MSc),[7] and Queen's University (PhD).[8]

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, 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, 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 stressors.

The author or editor of 24 books and over 700 journal publications and book chapters,[9] 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.[10] Since 2004, he has been editor of the journal Environmental Reviews.[11] He is the series editor of the Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research[12] book series. He held the Chair of the International Paleolimnology Association [13] 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.

Honours and awards

Among over 100 awards and fellowships,[1] Smol is the recipient of the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering,[14] given by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)[15] to honour Canada's top scientist or engineer. He also holds the distinction of being awarded four individual medals from the Royal Society of Canada, 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 (FRS) in 2018.[16] He holds six honorary degrees: LLD, St Francis Xavier University (2003); PhD, University of Helsinki (2007); DSc, University of Waterloo (2012); LLD, Mount Allison University (2016); DSc, Ryerson University (2016); DSc, Western University (University of Western Ontario) (2017). In 2013 he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.[17] The Vega Medal from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG) was presented to Smol in 2023.[18] Smol was made a Member of the Order of Ontario for the class of 2022.[19]

Selected publications

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Professor John Smol Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research. www.queensu.ca.
  2. Web site: Undergraduate Degree Biology Graduate Courses Research – Queen's Biology Department. biology.queensu.ca.
  3. Web site: Research Chair. 29 November 2012.
  4. Web site: PEARL.
  5. John Smol's
  6. Algal blooms
  7. Paleolimnology of selected Precambrian Shield lakes
  8. Postglacial changes in fossil algal assemblages from three Canadian lakes
  9. Web site: Publication List.
  10. Web site: Journal of Paleolimnology. Springer.
  11. Web site: Canadian Science Publishing. Environmental Reviews.
  12. Web site: Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research.
  13. Web site: Home. Paleolim.
  14. Web site: Herzberg Gold Medal. 28 June 2016.
  15. Web site: NSERC. 28 June 2016.
  16. Web site: John Smol. Royal Society. Anon. 2018. royalsociety.org.
  17. Web site: The Governor General of Canada. Office of the Secretary to the Governor. General. The Governor General of Canada.
  18. Web site: Other awards . PEARL . 2023-05-24 .
  19. The 2022 Appointees to the Order of Ontario. Ontario.ca. November 6, 2023.
  20. Some advice to early career scientists: Personal perspectives on surviving in a complex world. John. Smol. July 29, 2016. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution. 9. 1. 10.4033/iee.2016.9.5.e . ojs.library.queensu.ca. free.