Edward David Goldberg (August 2, 1921 – March 7, 2008) was a marine chemist, known for his studies of pollution in the oceans.

Biography

Goldberg was born on August 2, 1921, in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. He received his B.S. in chemistry from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1942, and then, after serving in the Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, did his graduate studies under the supervision of

Harrison Brown Harrison Scott Brown (September 26, 1917 – December 8, 1986) was an American nuclear chemist and geochemist. He was a political activist, who lectured and wrote on the issues of arms limitation, natural resources and world hunger. During Worl ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, where he received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1949. For the rest of his life, he worked as a professor of chemistry at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the

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 died March 7, 2008, in

Encinitas, California Encinitas ( Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and about south ...

.Obituary of Goldberg
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', March 17, 2008, p. B7.Obituary Notice; Pioneer in Marine Chemistry and Ocean Pollution Research: Edward Goldberg
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, March 11, 2008. The director of Scripps, Tony Haymet, wrote about him that

Research

Goldberg wrote more than 225 research papers and a number of books, largely concerning ocean

geochemistry Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the ...

, marine life in coastal waters, and man's impact on the ocean. One of Goldberg's earliest studies on ocean pollution concerned sewage in

Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is a bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume, in ...

. Goldberg warned of pollution's risk to all ocean life at the 1969

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

conference. Later, in the 1970s, Goldberg began the

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

-funded Mussel Watch program, which measured ocean pollution by its effects on shellfish. His studies led him to push for a ban on

tributyltin Tributyltin (TBT) is an umbrella term for a class of organotin compounds which contain the (C4H9)3 Sn group, with a prominent example being tributyltin oxide. For 40 years TBT was used as a biocide in anti-fouling paint, commonly known as bo ...

, a chemical that was used in ship paint for its toxic effects on barnacles but that was poisoning the mussels in San Diego Bay. Goldberg also published highly cited works on colloids in ocean water and on pollution from fossil fuel consumption. A significant innovation in Goldberg's research was the suggestion, implemented in Mussel Watch and now commonplace in marine chemistry, of using mussels to measure pollutant levels. For instance, Mills writes, "Measurements of metals by direct chemical analysis in water and sediment are limited in reliability. Consequently, after the initial suggestion by Goldberg (1975), many studies have utilised mussels to assess metals in the environment. Mussels have been suggested to be the ideal

bioindicator A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

organism in biomonitoring studies due to their sessile filter-feeding life style, coupled with their abilities to accumulate metals to much higher concentrations than those found in water and to not metabolise metals appreciably."

Awards and honors

In 1984 he won the first Bostwick H. Ketchum Award, given by the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it ...

, both for his leadership in environmental quality research and for his efforts to translate that research into policy. In 1989 he won the

Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is an annual award for environmental science, environmental health, and energy. Tyler Laureates receive a $200,000 cash prize and a medallion. The prize is administered by the University of Southern Cal ...

for his work on marine pollution, and the Roger Revelle Award of the San Diego Oceans Foundation. In 1999, the

American Society of Limnology and Oceanography The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), formerly known as the Limnological Society of America and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, is a scientific society established in 1936 with the goal of advan ...

gave Goldberg the first Ruth Patrick Award for Environmental Problem Solving in the Aquatic Sciences. Goldberg was also a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Meteoritical Society The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote research and education in planetary science with emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the ...

and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

."Academy of Sciences Picks 59 Members and 12 Associates", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', April 27, 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Edward David 1921 births 2008 deaths American biochemists University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Chicago alumni University of California, San Diego faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences United States Navy personnel of World War II