UAB Polar scientist Jim McClintock honored by Explorers Club, along with 10 Apollo astronauts

Jim in Life Jacket atstart of cruise.1 UAB Polar scientist Jim McClintock honored by Explorers Club, along with 10 Apollo astronauts
Author James McClintock

UAB’s Dr. Jim McClintock, a world expert on marine chemical ecology and drug discovery in Antarctica, was awarded the Finn Ronne Memorial Award by the Explorers Club on Saturday evening, March 16th in New York City.

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Photo of Antarctica taken by UAB’s Dr. Jim McClintock in 2017.

Named after the Norwegian-born, American explorer and writer Finn Ronne, the prestigious award recognizes an individual noted for accomplishments in polar research.

What is the Explorers Club?

The Explorers Club is an international multidisciplinary professional society founded in 1904 that promotes scientific exploration on land, sea, air and space. Club members were among those to be the first to the North Pole, the South Pole, the deepest point in the ocean and the moon’s surface.

McClintock received the award at the 115th Explorers Club Annual Dinner that was attended by 10 Apollo Astronauts.

McClintock’s Groundbreaking work

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Gentoos Penquins in Antarctica – Photo from Jim McClintock

An Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at UAB, McClintock  has published 276 peer-reviewed scientific publications, edited and written books and is regularly featured on public media outlets including NPR, National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American Magazine, CNN, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and The Weather Channel, and many more.

He has spoken at ‘TEDxBirmingham’ and ‘The Moth and has served on workshops sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on Climate Change and Polar Ecosystems. In 2016, McClintock was  a Bham Now BOLD speaker.

McClintock has conducted 15 research expeditions to Antarctica, where over the past two decades he and his research collaborators have become among the world’s authorities on Antarctic marine chemical ecology and drug discovery.

He has also sounded the alarm on the ecological impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine life of the Antarctic Peninsula. This December 2018, he was announced as the national face of the Nature Conservancy’s ‘Can We Talk Climate’ pledge campaign.

Pat Byington
Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.

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