Edgardo Dizon Gomez, (November 7, 1938 – December 1, 2019) was a Filipino biologist who was conferred the rank of

National Scientist of the Philippines The Order of National Scientists of the Philippines, abbreviated as ONS, is the highest award accorded to Filipino scientists by the Philippine government. Members of the order are known as National Scientists ( Filipino: ''Pambansang Alagad ng Ag ...

in 2014. He was a professor emeritus for marine biology at the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...

Marine Science Institute The Marine Science Institute (MSI) is one of seven academic institutes of the University of the Philippines' College of Science. It is housed in its own building complex within the UP Diliman Campus in Quezon City. The Marine Science Institute of ...

Education and career

Gomez obtained his bachelor's degree in education, major in English and Social Science ('' summa cum laude'') from De La Salle University, his master's degree in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

as a Fulbright Travel Grantee from

St. Mary's University of Minnesota Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, (SMUMN) is a private Catholic university with an undergraduate residential college in Winona, Minnesota; graduate and professional programs in Winona, the Twin Cities, and Rochester; and various course deli ...

and Ph.D. degree in Marine Biology from

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

. He was the founding director of the

at the

University of the Philippines Diliman , image = University of The Philippines seal.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = Official Logo of UP Diliman , motto = Honor and Excellence , established = February 12, 194 ...

upon his return in 1973 after his doctorate studies.

Contributions

Gomez saw the need to protect the Philippine archipelago's vast marine resources in particular that of

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

s. He led the world’s first national-scale assessment of damage to coral reefs leading to international conservation initiatives such as the replanting of corals. He also pioneered

giant clam The giant clams are the members of the clam genus '' Tridacna'' that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus '' Tridacna'', which are often misidentified for ''Tridacna gigas'', ...

(''Tridacna gigas'') breeding stationed in

Bolinao Bolinao, officially the Municipality of Bolinao ( pag, Baley na Bolinao; ilo, Ili ti Bolinao; tgl, Bayan ng Bolinao), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

and other protective areas for coastal communities of the Philippines. Additionally, he took part in creating the baseline map of the Philippines, and provided information to the Philippine government during talks over the territorial disputes in the Spratly Islands. In 2007, he pioneered the study on

ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the reduction in the pH value of the Earth’s ocean. Between 1751 and 2021, the average pH value of the ocean surface has decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14. The root cause of ocean acidification is carbon dioxid ...

caused by increased levels of absorbed carbon dioxide in the ocean. Gomez was conferred the rank of

in 2014 by

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

, the

President of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...

. This award, which comes with a lifetime pension, has been bestowed upon over thirty leading scientists. The confirmation ceremony took place at the Rizal Hall of the Malacañan Palace where Gomez was awarded for his research and conservation efforts in invertebrate biology and ecology on 12 August 2014.

Awards and recognition

for Marine Biology in 2014 * Pew Marine Conservation Fellow in 2001 * Presidential Lingkod Bayan Awardee in 2000 * Academician by the

National Academy of Science and Technology The National Academy of Science and Technology (''abbreviated as ''NAST) is the highest recognition and scientific advisory body of the Philippines under the Department of Science and Technology. It was created through Presidential Decree 1003- ...

(NAST) in 1993 * The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award for Science (Marine Biology) in 1992 * ''Laureate'' in the United Nations' Environmental Programme's (UNEP) Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1989

References

External links

Proclamation no. 843, s. 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Edgardo 1938 births 2019 deaths Filipino biologists De La Salle University alumni Saint Mary's University of Minnesota alumni University of California, San Diego alumni University of the Philippines faculty National Scientists of the Philippines