Obituary Professor Mike Thorndyke

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Mike Thorndyke on January 25, 2022. We would like to express our deepest condolences for the loss of Professor Thorndyke.

Professor Thorndyke was director of the Kristineberg Marine Research Station on the west coast of Sweden for many years and greatly contributed to the development of this facility by actively accepting international students and researchers from all over the world. As president of the European Network of Marine Stations (MARS), he was responsible for building a network of marine stations in Europe. He also played a leading role in the launch of the World Association of Marine Stations (WAMS), a global organization for marine stations. In 2011, he was awarded the Linnean Gold Medal by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his contributions to marine genomics and the development of international networks of marine stations. Thus, Professor Thorndyke has made a significant contribution to the development of marine biology and marine stations worldwide by promoting international networking, thereby accelerating interdisciplinary collaboration.

He has long and close ties with JAMBIO, having served on the external evaluation committee, and has spoken at the JAMBIO Forum/Symposium on two occasions.
2nd JAMBIO Forum (January 21, 2011)
From Time Series to Genomes: Challenges and Opportunities for Marine Research Stations
3rd JAMBIO International Symposium (September 21,2016)
Capacity Building and Climate Change: A Global Challenge for Marine Stations

We would like to express our deepest appreciation and respect for Professor Thorndyke’s contributions to the worldwide networking of marine stations, including JAMBIO, and would like to express our deepest condolences.
(Hiroaki Nakano, Kazuo Inaba)