David Karl

Karl was born on May 9, 1950, in Buffalo, New York.{{cite web |title=David Karl USA 2015 Balzan Prize for Oceanography |url=https://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/david-michael-karl/bio-bibliography-karl |website=balzan.org |accessdate=September 9, 2020}} His parents were not college-educated but expected him and his siblings to attend college. Both his brother and sister became National Merit Scholars.{{cite web |title=Profile of David M. Karl |url=https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/109/6/1811.full.pdf |website=pnas.org |accessdate=September 8, 2020}} Karl became interested in oceanography at a young age and was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's book The Challenge of the Sea.{{cite web |title=Beyond the Lab: David M. Karl, Ph.D. |url=https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=beyond-the-lab-david-m.-karl-ph.d |website=moore.org |accessdate=September 8, 2020}} He chose to pursue biology at Buffalo State College after climbing Cadillac Mountain in Maine. Karl paid his way through college working various "odd jobs" including in pizza parlor, at a cemetery, and unloading freight cars.{{cite news |last1=Altonn |first1=Helen |title=UH Scientist Prepares for Busy Year with Ocean Explorations Worldwide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58940325/david-karl/ |accessdate=September 8, 2020 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=May 15, 1986|via=Newspapers.com}} Following his bachelor of arts degree, he taught high school algebra and general science in Buffalo before applying for graduate school at Florida State University. He earned his master's degree in Biological Oceanography within two years and attended Holger Jannasch’s summer course on microbial ecology at the Marine Biological Laboratory. In 1974, Karl drove across the country to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who rejected him four times before finally accepting him for his doctoral degree.

Upon receiving his doctoral degree, Karl accepted an assistant professor of oceanography position at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. While there, his doctoral dissertation received the Eckart Dissertation Prize awarded by Scripps Institution of Oceanography.{{cite news |title=Dissertation Prize |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58940352/david-karl/ |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=April 4, 1979|via=Newspapers.com}} During his first year at the institution, Karl was a member of the Galapagos Rift Biology Expedition and was among the first to observe and sample deep sea hydrothermal vent communities from a submersible.{{cite web |title=UH Manoa oceanographer receives $3.85 million grant from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation |url=https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=uh-manoa-oceanographer-receives-$3-85-million-grant-from-gordon-and-betty-moore-foundation |website=moore.org |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=July 26, 2004}} He was recognized for his research studying marine microecology by President Ronald Reagan who granted him an Presidential Young Investigator Award in the oceanographic and atmospheric fields in 1984.{{cite news |last1=Altonn |first1=Helen |title=UH Scientist Wins 5-Year NSF Award |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58940319/david-karl/ |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=March 2, 1984|via=Newspapers.com}} Two years later, prior to his 35th birthday, Karl was honored as "Scientist of the Year" by the Honolulu Chapter of the Achievement Howards for College Scientist and embarked on various national expeditions.{{cite news |last1=Altonn |first1=Helen |title=UH Microbiologist Named Top Scientist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58940372/david-karl/ |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=May 10, 1986|via=Newspapers.com}}

In 1988, Karl co-founded the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) program which conducts sustained physical, biogeochemical and microbial measurements and experiments at Station ALOHA, a circle of a 6-mile radius in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii.{{cite web |title=David M. Karl, Ph.D. |url=http://scope.soest.hawaii.edu/bios/Karl.html |website=scope.soest.hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020}} His efforts were recognized by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography with the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences in 2001{{cite news |last1=Altonn |first1=Helen |title=UH oceanographer honored with A.G. Huntsman Award |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/02/04/news/index7.html |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=February 4, 2002}} and by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in 2004 with their inaugural Investigator in Marine Science award. The award included a five-year, $3.85 million grant, which Karl said he'd use to train a few graduate and postgraduate students who "have the potential of each training 20 to 30 more students in their careers."{{cite news |last1=Altonn |first1=Helen |title=UH teacher nets multi- million dollar grant |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/07/26/news/index5.html |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=July 26, 2004}} In the same year, Karl received the Henry Bryant Bigelow Award in Oceanography and in recognition of his "contributions to the field of microbiology and study of the sea's microorganisms."{{cite news |last1=Altonn |first1=Helen |title=Sea scientists honor UH researcher |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/07/06/news/index4.html |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|date=July 6, 2004}} He was also appointed the Chancellor‘s Distinguished Lecturer at Louisiana State University in September 2005 followed in November by the David Packard Medal from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, given in recognition of outstanding achievements and leadership in the field of Marine Science. In April 2006, Karl was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.{{cite web |title=Oceanographer David Karl elected to National Academy of Sciences |url=https://manoa.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=1418 |website=manoa.hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=April 26, 2006}}

Using data collected from the HOT program, Karl and added the manmade chemical methylphosphonate to samples of seawater, which immediately started making methane. His data helped prove that carbon dioxide emissions were making the ocean more acidic, which earned him the Cozzarelli Prize in 2010.{{cite web |title=Marine Microbiology Investigator Dave Karl and team awarded Cozzarelli Prize by National Academy of Sciences |url=https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=gbmf-marine-microbiology-investigator-dave-karl-and-team-awarded-cozzarelli-prize-by-national-academy-of-sciences |website=moore.org |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=March 17, 2010}} He later led an international research team in the documentation of an increase in the amount of particulate matter exported to the deep sea in the North Pacific Gyre.{{cite web |title=HOT news: Pacific carbon pump speeds up in summer |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2012/02/07/summer-export-pulse/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=February 7, 2012}} That summer, he also developed an analytical technique to identify long-hypothesized vitamin B deficient zones in the ocean.{{cite web |title=Scientists confirm vitamin B depletion in the ocean |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2012/07/26/scientists-confirm-vitamin-b-depletion-in-the-ocean/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=July 26, 2012}} His efforts were recognized the following year by the National Academy of Sciences with the Alexander Agassiz Medal for original contributions in the science of oceanography.{{cite web |title=Oceanography professor honored by National Academy of Sciences |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2013/04/30/oceanography-professor-honored-by-national-academy-of-sciences/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=April 30, 2013}} Karl continued his research in the field of marine microbial ecology with Edward DeLong, using funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation,{{cite web |title=David Karl and Edward DeLong awarded $4.2 million grant |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2013/06/27/david-karl-and-edward-delong-awarded-4-2-million-grant/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=June 27, 2013}} and was appointed to the National Academy of Sciences Gulf of Mexico program advisory group.{{cite web |title=David Karl appointed member of Gulf of Mexico oil spill advisory group |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2013/06/14/david-karl-appointed-member-of-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-advisory-group/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=June 14, 2013}}

In 2015, Karl was the recipient of the Balzan Prize for "his fundamental contributions to the understanding of the role and immense importance of microorganisms in the ocean, and of how microorganisms and phytoplankton control the oceanic carbon, nitrogen and iron cycles, work that has yielded significant insights into global change."{{cite web |title=David Karl wins $770,000 Balzan Prize in oceanography |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2015/09/08/david-karl-wins-balzan-prize-in-oceanography/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=September 8, 2015}} He also received the DuPont Award for outstanding accomplishment in microbiology.{{cite web |title=David Karl honored with DuPont Award for outstanding accomplishment in microbiology |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2015/04/15/david-karl-honored-with-dupont-award-for-outstanding-accomplishment-in-microbiology/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=April 15, 2015}} He later led a research team in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology to develop a computer model to study the survival of Prochlorococcus, an abundant photosynthetic microbe.{{cite web |title=New model reveals adaptations of world's most abundant ocean microbe |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2016/11/15/new-model-reveals-adaptations-of-worlds-most-abundant-ocean-microbe/ |website=hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=November 15, 2016}} In 2019, Karl stepped down as leader of the HOT program, being replaced by oceanographer Angelicque White, but stayed on as co-investigator.{{cite web |last1=Grabowski |first1=Marcie |title=New leadership as ocean and climate research program celebrates over 30 years of discovery |url=https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/soestwp/announce/news/new-leadership-as-ocean-and-climate-research-program-celebrates-over-30-years-of-discovery/ |website=soest.hawaii.edu |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |date=August 2, 2019}}

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Category:1950 births

Category:Living people

Category:University of Hawaiʻi faculty

Category:American oceanographers

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Buffalo State College alumni

Category:Florida State University alumni

Category:University of California, San Diego alumni

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology

Category:Biologists from New York (state)