John Veron

John Veron (b. 1945), credited in research as J. E. N. Veron, and in other writing as Charlie Veron, is a wide-ranging specialist in corals and reefs.

Early life

John Edward Norwood Veron was born in 1945 in Sydney.

Career and education

Veron has three higher degrees in different fields. He was the chief scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and he has many professional awards including the Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Award (American Academy of Underwater Sciences), the Darwin Medal (International Society of Reef Studies) and the Silver Jubilee Pin (Australian Marine Sciences Association). He has named about 20% of reef corals and built a taxonomic framework for corals that is used throughout the world. He discovered and delineated the Coral Triangle. He introduced the concept of reticulate evolution to the marine world.

Books written

Veron has written several books about corals and coral reefs, including:

• A Reef in Time: the Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End (Harvard University Press), (2000)
• Corals of the World (three volumes, Australian Institute of Marine Science)
• Corals in Space and Time (Cornell University Press) (1995)

Later life

Veron is the senior author of seven monographs about coral taxonomy and biogeography. Since 2008 he together with three colleagues have been producing an open access website about coral taxonomy, biogeography and identification:

This website includes the mapping program Coral Geographic. Veron has also campaigned extensively on climate change, ocean acidification and other environmental issues.