John Albert Raven

Raven was born on 25 June 1941,{{Who's Who | title=RAVEN, Prof. John Albert | id = U31939 | volume = 2016 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}} and brought up on a farm in northwest Essex and educated at the Friends' School, Saffron Walden{{citation| title = Profile John A. Raven |year = 2017| work = New Phytologist|volume = 215|pages = 514-515|url =https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/nph.14651 |accessdate = 19 September 2023}} and St John's College, Cambridge, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Botany in 1963.{{cite web |url=http://royalsociety.org/events/2012/bioenergetics/ |title=Bioenergetics and the major evolutionary transitions |publisher=The Royal Society |access-date=2013-03-23}} He remained at Cambridge to complete a PhD in Botany (plant biophysics) in 1967, under the supervision of Enid MacRobbie, and specialising in the membrane transport processes and bioenergetics of giant-celled algae.{{cite web |url=http://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/public-events/archiv/greencyclesii/programme/23.5.2011/raven/raven-cv |title=Keynote Presentations at the GREENCYCLES II Summer School |publisher=Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research |access-date=2013-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309201114/https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/public-events/archiv/greencyclesii/programme/23.5.2011/raven/raven-cv|archive-date=2016-03-09}}{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910192821/http://www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/people/john-raven|archive-date=2015-09-10|url=http://www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/people/john-raven|publisher=dundee.ac.uk|title=Professor John Raven FRS FRSE: Interactions among resources in the growth of phytoplankton|date=30 August 2013 }}

After a period as a lecturer at Cambridge, Raven moved to the University of Dundee in 1971, and he remained at Dundee until his formal retirement in 2008. He was appointed there to a personal chair in 1980, and was the John Boyd Baxter Professor of Biology from 1995 until 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.dundee.ac.uk/pressreleases/2008/prsept08/johnraven.html |title=Symposium to mark retiral of Professor John Raven |date=11 September 2008|publisher=University of Dundee |access-date=2013-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331230602/http://app.dundee.ac.uk/pressreleases/2008/prsept08/johnraven.html|archive-date=2016-03-31}} In 1978, Raven was a co-founding editor of the influential peer reviewed scientific journal Plant, Cell & Environment with Paul Jarvis,{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Harry|title=Paul Gordon Jarvis, FRS: co-founding editor ofPlant, Cell & Environment|journal=Plant, Cell & Environment|volume=36|issue=5|year=2013|pages=907–908|issn=0140-7791|doi=10.1111/pce.12080|pmid=23421651|doi-access=free}} David Jennings, Harry Smith{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Harry|title=Editorial|journal=Plant, Cell and Environment|volume=1|issue=1|year=1978|pages=1|issn=0140-7791|doi=10.1111/j.1365-3040.1978.tb00738.x}}{{cite journal|last1=Raven|first1=John A.|title=Harry Smith, FRS: co-founding editor and first Chief Editor ofPlant, Cell & Environment|journal=Plant, Cell & Environment|volume=38|issue=8|year=2015|pages=1453–1454|issn=0140-7791|doi=10.1111/pce.12567|pmid=25991437|doi-access=free}} and Bob Campbell.{{cite web |title=Wiley-Blackwell Announces Retirement of Bob Campbell |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330101626/http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/PressRelease/pressReleaseId-107769.html |date=2013-02-28 |archive-date=2016-03-30 |url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/PressRelease/pressReleaseId-107769.html |publisher=wiley.com}}

Raven's research investigated algal life forms in the upper levels of the ocean, which underpin marine ecosystems and recycle carbon. He has explored how carbon dioxide, light and trace minerals interact to limit primary productivity in algae. Raven had research interests that range from organism-level bioenegetics,{{cite journal |last1=Raven |first1=J.A. |year=1970 |title=Exogenous inorganic carbon sources in plant photosynthesis |journal=Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=167–220 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.1970.tb01629.x |s2cid=86332656 }} biochemistry{{cite journal |last1=Raven |first1=J.A. |year=2000 |title=Land plant biochemistry |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B |volume=355 |issue=1398 |pages=833–846 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2000.0618 |pmc=1692786 |pmid=10905612}} and ecophysiology,{{cite journal |last1=Raven |first1=J.A. |last2=Hurd |first2=C.L. |year=2012 |title=Ecophysiology of photosynthesis in macroalgae |journal=Photosynthesis Research |volume=113 |issue=1–3 |pages=105–125 |doi=10.1007/s11120-012-9768-z |pmid=22843100 |s2cid=5744231 }} through to wider-scale biogeochemistry,{{cite journal |last1=Raven |first1=J.A. |last2=Wollenweber |first2=B. |last3=Handley |first3=L.L. |year=1992 |title=Ammonia and ammonium fluxes between photolithotrophs and the environment in relation to the global nitrogen-cycle |journal=New Phytologist |volume=121 |issue=1 |pages=5–18 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8137.1992.tb01087.x |doi-access=free }} palaeoecology{{cite journal |last1=Raven |first1=J.A. |last2=Yin |first2=Z.H. |year=1998 |title=The past, present and future of nitrogenous compounds in the atmosphere, and their interactions with plants |journal=New Phytologist |volume=139 |issue=1 |pages=205–219 |doi=10.1046/j.1469-8137.1998.00168.x |doi-access=free }} and even astrobiology.{{cite journal |author1=O'Malley-James, J. T. |author2=Raven, J. A. |author3=Cockell, C. S. |year=2012 |title=Life and Light: Exotic Photosynthesis in Binary and Multiple-Star Systems |journal=Astrobiology |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=115–124 |doi=10.1089/ast.2011.0678 |display-authors=etal |pmid=22283409|arxiv=1110.3728 |bibcode=2012AsBio..12..115O |s2cid=43997271 }} He published more than 300 refereed research papers,{{Scopus|7103305526}} over 50 book chapters, the book Energetics and Transport in Aquatic Plants (1984),{{cite book |last1=Raven |first1=J.A. |year=1984 |title=Energetics and Transport in Aquatic Plants |edition=1 |publisher=Krieger Publishing Company |isbn=0-8451-2203-7 }} and, together with Paul Falkowski, the influential textbook Aquatic Photosynthesis (1997, 2007).{{cite book | last1=Falkowski | first1=P.G. | last2=Raven | first2=J.A. | year=2007 | title=Aquatic Photosynthesis | edition=2 | publisher=Princeton University Press | url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8337.html | isbn=978-0-632-06139-6 }} In 2005, Raven led a Royal Society review of the state and implications of ongoing ocean acidification.Raven, J. A. et al. (2005). [http://royalsociety.org/Report_WF.aspx?pageid=9633 Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.] Royal Society, London, UK. {{As of|2016}}, Raven was active in both research{{cite journal|last1=Raven|first1=John A.|last2=Beardall|first2=John|title=The ins and outs of CO2|journal=Journal of Experimental Botany|volume=67|issue=1|year=2016|pages=1–13|doi=10.1093/jxb/erv451|pmid=26466660|pmc=4682431}} and teaching, despite officially retiring in 2008 when he warned: {{centered pull quote|Life has survived many rapid and large amplitude environmental changes over billions of years, but we should not be complacent about the biological effects of current anthropogenic influences on the environment. At the most selfish level, we depend on the continued provision of 'ecosystem services' for our quality of life.}}

Raven died at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on 23 May 2024, at the age of 82.{{cite web |title=Obituary: Prof. John Albert Raven |url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid021kwUH7P8GcYzeFSikZHBN61JVhRCafQa7doe1jgGdUGVzgwsEUQGziTqE7CiHMVjl&id=100081135931797 |website=Facebook |publisher=International Phycological Society |access-date=31 May 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Griffiths |first1=Howard |title=John Raven (1941–2024) |url=https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)01008-X |access-date=14 September 2024 |publisher=Cell |date=9 September 2024}}

Raven was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 1981.

He was elected President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for 1986–88.{{Cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03746608708685428|doi = 10.1080/03746608708685428|title = Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh|year = 1987|volume = 45|issue = 2|pages = 163–165}}

Raven was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1990,{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117013056/https://royalsociety.org/people/john-raven-12149/ |archive-date=2015-11-17 |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/john-raven-12149/ |title=Professor John Raven FRS |publisher=Royal Society |location=London }} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{blockquote|“All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.” --{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |access-date=2016-03-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 }}}} for which his certificate of election reads: {{centered pull quote|Raven has made important theoretical and experimental contributions at the plant cell and whole plant levels. His work on H+ transport has helped to produce an integrated view of pH regulation in plants and on the transport of weak electrolytes such as plant growth substances and certain nutrients into plants. He has carried out important work on chemiosmotic mechanisms. His work on photosynthesis and respiration has provided quantitative clarification of the role of dark respiration in plants. He has also provided important information on the suppression of photorespiration by HCO₃ transport in aquatic plants and on the possible phylogeny of vascular land plants.{{cite web|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6gPrBZ5mY?url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC/1990/28%27) |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC/1990/28%27) |title=Certificate of election EC/1990/28: Raven, John Albert |publisher=Royal Society |location=London |archive-date=31 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}}}

He was also a recipient of the Award of Excellence from Phycological Society of America in 2002{{cite web |url=http://www.psaalgae.org/award-of-excellence/ |title=Award of Excellence |website=Phycological Society of America |access-date=1 April 2016 }} and made an Honorary Life Member of the British Phycological Society in 2006.{{cite web |url=http://www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/awards/honorary-life-member-british-phycological-society |title=Honorary Life Member of the British Phycological Society |website=University of Dundee |date=20 August 2013 |access-date=1 April 2016 }}

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• {{cite journal|last1=Raven|first1=John A.|author-link=John A. Raven|title=Building botany in Cambridge. 1904–2004: the centenary of the opening of the Botany School, University of Cambridge, UK|journal=New Phytologist|date=April 2004|volume=162|issue=1|pages=7–8|doi=10.1111/j.1469-8137.2004.01040.x}}

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• [http://www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/people/john-raven University of Dundee]

{{FRS 1990}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Raven, John Albert}}

Category:1941 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Category:20th-century British botanists

Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge

Category:Academics of the University of Dundee

Category:People educated at Friends School Saffron Walden

Category:21st-century British botanists