Sallie W. Chisholm

{{Infobox scientist

|image = Penny Chisholm in 2023 04.jpg

|name = Sallie Watson Chisholm

|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1947}}

|birth_place = Marquette, Michigan, U.S.

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|field = Marine biology

|work_institutions = Massachusetts Institute of Technology

|alma_mater = Skidmore College
University at Albany, SUNY

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = Study of phytoplankton, especially Prochlorococcus

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|influences =

|influenced =

|prizes = National Medal of Science
Alexander Agassiz Medal (2010)
Crafoord Prize (2019)

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}}

Sallie Watson "Penny" Chisholm (born 1947) is an American biological oceanographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an expert in the ecology and evolution of ocean microbes. Her research focuses particularly on the most abundant marine phytoplankton, Prochlorococcus, that she discovered in the 1980s with Rob Olson and other collaborators.{{Cite journal|last1=Chisholm|first1=Sallie W.|last2=Olson|first2=Robert J.|last3=Zettler|first3=Erik R.|last4=Goericke|first4=Ralf|last5=Waterbury|first5=John B.|last6=Welschmeyer|first6=Nicholas A.|date=1988|title=A novel free-living prochlorophyte abundant in the oceanic euphotic zone|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/334340a0|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=334|issue=6180|pages=340–343|doi=10.1038/334340a0|bibcode=1988Natur.334..340C|s2cid=4373102|issn=1476-4687|url-access=subscription}} She has a TED talk about their discovery and importance called "The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet".{{Citation|last=Chisholm|first=Penny|title=The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet|date=July 2, 2018 |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/penny_chisholm_the_tiny_creature_that_secretly_powers_the_planet|language=en|access-date=May 30, 2021}}

Early life and education

File:Sallie Chisholm - National Medal of Science, 2011.webm

Chisholm was born in Marquette, Michigan and graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 1965.{{cite web|title=InfiniteMIT {{!}} Sallie (Penny) W. Chisholm|url=https://infinite.mit.edu/video/sallie-penny-w-chisholm|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=infinite.mit.edu|language=en}} She attended Skidmore College and earned a PhD from SUNY Albany in 1974. Following her Ph.D., she served as a post-doctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from 1974 to 1976.

Career

Chisholm has been a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1976 and a visiting scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution since 1978. Her research has focused on the ecology of marine phytoplankton.{{cite web |url=http://cee.mit.edu/news/releases/2013/Chisholm-national-medal-of-science |title=Sallie (Penny) Chisholm awarded the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor for scientists |publisher=MIT |date=February 19, 2013 |access-date=March 9, 2013 |archive-date=June 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614214852/http://cee.mit.edu/news/releases/2013/Chisholm-national-medal-of-science |url-status=dead }} Chisholm's early work focused on the processes by which such plankton take up nutrients and the manner in which this affects their life cycle on diurnal time scales. This led her to begin using flow cytometry which can be used to measure the properties of individual cells.

The application of flow cytometry to environmental samples led Chisholm and her collaborators (most notably Rob Olson and Heidi Sosik) to the discovery that small plankton (in particular Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus) accounted for a much more substantial part of marine productivity than had previously been realized. Previously, biological oceanographers had focused on silicaceous diatoms as being the most important phytoplankton, accounting for 10–20 gigatons of carbon uptake each year. Chisholm's work showed that an even larger amount of carbon was cycled through these small algae, which may also play an important role in the global nitrogen cycle.

In recent years, Chisholm has played a visible role in opposing the use of iron fertilization as a technological fix for anthropogenic climate change.{{cite journal |title=Ocean fertilization: time to move on |journal=Nature |date=September 17, 2009 |volume=461|issue=7262 |doi=10.1038/461347a |pmid=19759603 |pages=347–348|last1=Strong |first1=Aaron |last2=Chisholm |first2=Sallie |last3=Miller |first3=Charles |last4=Cullen |first4=John |bibcode=2009Natur.461..347S |s2cid=205049552 }}

In 1994, Chisholm was one of 16 women faculty in the School of Science at MIT who drafted and co-signed a letter to the then-Dean of Science (now Chancellor of Berkeley) Robert Birgeneau, which started a campaign to highlight and challenge gender discrimination at MIT.{{Cite book |last=Zernike |first=Kate |title=The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science |publisher=Scribner |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-9821-3183-8 |location=New York, NY}}

Awards and honors

Chisholm has been a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS) since 2003 and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1992.

In January 2010, she was awarded the Alexander Agassiz Medal, for "pioneering studies of the dominant photosynthetic organisms in the sea and for integrating her results into a new understanding of the global ocean."{{cite web |url=http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=01202010b |title=Academy Honors 17 for Major Contributions to Science |publisher=Office of News and Public Information, The National Academies |access-date=January 20, 2010}}

She was a co-recipient in 2012 of the Ruth Patrick Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography.

Chisholm received the National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama on February 1, 2013.

In 2013, she was awarded the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology, "for being one of the most productive, charismatic and active researchers on biology and marine ecology".{{cite web |url=http://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu_eines/noticies/2013/10/045.html |title=Scientific forum on oceans and climate with the participation of Sallie W. Chisholm, Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology 2013 |date=October 8, 2009 |publisher=Universitat de Barcelona |access-date=October 25, 2013}}

On May 24, 2018, she was awarded the Doctor of Science degree by Harvard University.{{cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/05/harvard-awards-seven-honorary-degrees/|title=Harvard awards seven honorary degrees|date=May 24, 2018}}

In 2019 she received the Crafoord Prize in Biosciences, "for the discovery and pioneering studies of the most abundant photosynthesising organism on Earth, Prochlorococcus".{{cite web|url=https://www.crafoordprize.se/news/the-crafoord-prize-in-biosciences-2019/|title=The Crafoord Prize in Biosciences 2019|website=Crafoord Prize|date=January 16, 2019 }} This prize is considered equivalent to the Nobel Prize (for which there is no Biosciences category). Chisholm was honored at the Crafoord Prize Symposium in Biosciences{{cite web | title=Crafoord Days 2019 | website=Crafoord Prize | date=27 October 2022 | url=https://www.crafoordprize.se/news/crafoord-days-2019/ | access-date=2 December 2023}} at which 6 internationally prominent scientists spoke (in order of presentations): Alexandra Worden (then at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany), Corina Brussaard (NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, The Netherlands), Ramunas Stepanauskas (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, US), Rachel Foster (Stockholm University, Sweden), Francis M. Martin (INRA French National Institute for Agricultural Research, France) and David Karl (University of Hawaii, US).

Select works

{{cite book | last1=Bang | first1=Molly | last2=Chisholm | first2=Penny | title=Ocean Sunlight | publisher=Blue Sky Press (AZ) | date=2012 | isbn=978-0-545-27322-0 | page=}}
{{cite book | last=Chisholm | first=Sallie W. | title=Microbes and Evolution | chapter=Unveiling Prochlorococcus | publisher=American Society of Microbiology |chapter-url=https://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/cmoreserver/summercourse/2015/documents/Chisholm_06-03/2012_Chisholm-Unveiling%20Prochlorococcus._in_Microbes_and_Evolution-without_cover.pdf | date=1 January 2012 | pages=165–171 | isbn=978-1-55581-540-0 | doi=10.1128/9781555818470.ch23| hdl=1721.1/69963 }}
{{cite journal | last1 = Coleman | first1 = M. L. | last2 = Chisholm | first2 = S. W. | year = 2010 | title = Ecosystem-specific selection pressures revealed by comparative population genomics | journal = PNAS | volume = 107 | issue = 43| pages = 18634–18639 | doi=10.1073/pnas.1009480107| pmid = 20937887 | pmc = 2972931 | doi-access = free }}
{{cite journal | last1 = Lindell | first1 = D. | last2 = Jaffe | first2 = J.D. | last3 = Coleman | first3 = M.L. | last4 = Axmann | first4 = I.M. | last5 = Rector | first5 = T. | last6 = Kettler | first6 = G. | last7 = Sullivan | first7 = M.B. | last8 = Steen | first8 = R. | last9 = Hess | first9 = W.R. | last10 = Church | first10 = G.M. | last11 = Chisholm | first11 = S. W. | year = 2007 | title = Genome-wide expression dynamics of a marine virus and host reveal features of coevolution | journal = Nature | volume = 449 | issue = 7158| pages = 83–86 | doi=10.1038/nature06130| pmid = 17805294 | bibcode = 2007Natur.449...83L | s2cid = 4412265 }}
{{cite journal | last1=Chisholm | first1=Sallie W. | last2=Falkowski | first2=Paul G. | last3=Cullen | first3=John J. | title=Dis-Crediting Ocean Fertilization | journal=Science | publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | volume=294 | issue=5541 | date=12 October 2001 | issn=0036-8075 | doi=10.1126/science.1065349 | pages=309–310| pmid=11598285 | s2cid=130687109 }}
{{cite journal | last1 = Chisholm | first1 = S.W. | last2 = Olson | first2 = R.J. | last3 = Zettler | first3 = E.R. | last4 = Goericke | first4 = R. | last5 = Waterbury | first5 = J. | last6 = Welschmeyer | first6 = N. | year = 1988 | title = A novel free-living prochlorophyte abundant in the oceanic euphotic zone | journal = Nature | volume = 334 | issue = 6180| pages = 340–343 | doi=10.1038/334340a0| bibcode = 1988Natur.334..340C | s2cid = 4373102 }}

References

External links

[http://chisholmlab.mit.edu/ Chisholm Lab at MIT]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070322212558/http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/421/ Online Chisholm Lecture]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSB9rPBl768 Video of Chisholm talking about her work], from the National Science & Technology Medals Foundation

Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Marquette, Michigan

Category:American marine biologists

Category:American oceanographers

Category:American sustainability advocates

Category:American women biologists

Category:Skidmore College alumni

Category:University at Albany, SUNY alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Winners of the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology