Person
John, Jacob ( - 2024)
- Born
- India
- Died
- 2024
Perth, Western Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Phycologist and Teacher
Summary
Jacob John was Australia's foremost expert on diatoms. After completing his studies in India in 1961 he taught there and in Ethiopia before coming to Western Australia in 1972. He joined the staff of the Western Australian Institute of Technology (from 1987 Curtin University of Technology) where he taught plant sciences, introductory biology, cell biology and human genetics. For many years at Curtin he was co-ordinator of honours and postgraduate programs. John became interested in the wetlands of the Swan river coastal plain, which resulted in his fascination with diatoms. His PhD studies were published as The diatom flora of the Swan River Estuary, Western Australia (1983), the first comprehensive work on Australian diatoms. He made many collecting trips pursuing this interest, including to Siberia, Mexico, Japan and all over Australia. After retiring in 2012 John became an Honorary Research Associate at the Western Australian Herbarium. Using a collection of over 55,000 diatom slides he worked to prepare a multi-volume diatom flora of Australia. Three volimes were completed by the time of his death. In all he produced nearly 300 publications, including 51 peer-reviewed papers, and 14 books.
Details
Chronology
- 1959
- Education - BSc, Madras University, India
- 1961
- Education - MSc, Madras University
- 1972 - 2012
- Career position - Tutor (later lecturer) in biology, Western Australian institute of Technology (later Curtin University)
- 1983
- Education - PhD, University of Western Australia
- 1991
- Award - Vice-Chancellor's award for excellence in research, Curtin University
- 2012
- Life event - Retired
- 2012 - 2024
- Career position - Honorary Research Associate, Western Australian Herbarium
- 2022
- Award - Gerald W. Prescott Award for the best book on algae, Phycological Society of America, for Diatoms of arid Australia (2020)
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Jacob, John, Diatom flora of the Swan River estuary, Western Australia (Vaduz: J. Cramer, 1983), 358 pp. Details
- John, Jacob, A beginner's guide to diatoms (Ruggell, Liechtenstein: Gantner Verlag, 2012), 174 pp. Details
- John, Jacob, Diatoms from Tasmania: taxonomy and biogeography (Oberreifenberg, Germany: Koeltz Botanical Books, 2018). Details
- John, Jacob, Diatoms from arid Australia: taxonomy and biogeography (Oberreifenberg, Germany: Koeltz Botanical Books, 2020), 341 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Helleren, Stuart, 'Jacob John - in memoriam', Australasian Systematic Botany Society newsletter, 201 (2024), 34-5. Details
- Jacob, John, 'The use of diatoms in monitoring the development of created wetlands at a sandmining site in Western Australia', Hydrobiologia, 269/70 (1993), 427-36. Details
- John, J., 'Assessment of river health in Australia by diatom assemblages - a review', Oceanological and hydrobiological studies, 32 (2) (2004), 95-104. Details
- John, John, Hay, Melissa and Paton, Jennifer, 'Cyanobcteria in benthic microbial communities in coastal salt lakes in Western Australia', Algological studies: international journal of phycological studies, 130 (2009), 125-35, https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/algol_stud/detail/130/74226/Cyanobacteria_in_benthic_microbial_communities_in_coastal_salt_lakes_in_Western_Australia. Details
- Thomas, E. J. and John, J., 'Diatoms in the wetlands of the south-west of Western Australia: community structure in relation to pH', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 93 (2010), 29-42. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 20 May 2025