John Imbrie

{{Infobox scientist

| name = John Imbrie

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|7|4}}

| birth_place = Penn Yan, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|5|13|1925|7|4}}

| death_place = Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.

| field = Geology, oceanography

| work_institution =

| alma_mater = Princeton University (B.S.)
Yale University (Ph.D.)

| doctoral_advisor =

| doctoral_students =

| thesis_title = Protremate Brachiopods of the Traverse Group 'Devonian' of Michigan

| thesis_year = 1951

| known_for =

| prizes = Maurice Ewing Medal {{small|(1986)}}
Lyell Medal {{small|(1991)}}
Vetlesen Prize {{small|(1996)}}
Vega Medal {{small|(1999)}}
Milutin Milankovic Medal {{small|(2003)}}

| footnotes =

}}

John Imbrie (July 4, 1925 – May 13, 2016) was an American paleoceanographer best known for his work on the theory of ice ages. He was the grandson of William Imbrie, an American missionary to Japan.

After serving with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy during World War II, Imbrie earned his bachelor's degree from Princeton University. He then went on to receive a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1951. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1978,{{Cite web |title=John Imbrie |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/54265.html |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=www.nasonline.org}} and both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1981.{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=John+Imbrie&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}{{Cite web |title=John Imbrie |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/john-imbrie |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}} That same year, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He was awarded the Maurice Ewing Medal in 1986 by the AGU and the William H. Twenhofel Medal by the Society for Sedimentary Geology in 1991, the only time the Society has awarded it to a non-member. Imbrie was on the faculty of the Geological Sciences Department at Brown University from 1967,[http://www.eng.yale.edu/content/AlumniHAC_person.asp?HAC_IK=63 Yale Science and Engineering Alumni Hall of Achievement web page, accessed April 9, 2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518201557/http://www.eng.yale.edu/content/AlumniHAC_person.asp?HAC_IK=63 |date=May 18, 2011 }} where he held the Henry L. Doherty chair of Oceanography. He later served as Professor Emeritus at Brown.[http://www.geo.brown.edu/Faculty/EmeritusFacRoster.htm Emeritus Faculty Roster web page, Geological Sciences Department, Brown University, accessed April 9, 2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080329182344/http://www.geo.brown.edu/Faculty/EmeritusFacRoster.htm |date=March 29, 2008 }}

Imbrie is probably best known as a co-author of the paper in Science in 1976, 'Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages'.{{Cite journal | last1 = Hays | first1 = J. D. | author-link1 = James D. Hays| last2 = Imbrie | first2 = J. | author-link2 = John Imbrie| last3 = Shackleton | first3 = N. J. | author-link3 = Nicholas Shackleton| doi = 10.1126/science.194.4270.1121 | title = Variations in the Earth's Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages | journal = Science| volume = 194 | issue = 4270 | pages = 1121–1132 | year = 1976 | pmid = 17790893| bibcode = 1976Sci...194.1121H | s2cid = 667291 }} Using ocean sediment cores, the Science paper verified the theories of Milutin Milanković that oscillations in climate over the past few million years are correlated with Earth's orbital variations of eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession around the Sun. These changes are now called the Milankovitch cycles. He became a recipient of the Milutin Milankovic Medal with George Kukla in 2003.{{cite web |url= https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/milutin-milankovic/ |title= EGU - Awards & medals - Milutin Milankovic Medal |author= |publisher= European Geosciences Union |access-date= 18 May 2018 }}

John Imbrie was featured in the video documentary The Last Ridge: The Uphill Battles of the 10th Mountain Division.{{cite web | url=http://www.lastridge.com/index.php | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024140453/http://www.lastridge.com/index.php | archive-date=2019-10-24 | title=The Last Ridge Documentary }}

He died in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2016 at the age of 90.[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/providence/obituary.aspx?n=john-imbrie&pid=180002863 John Imbrie Obituary, Providence Journal, May 16, 2016]