Dr. Warwick Vincent is Professor of Biology and Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Ecosystem Studies at Laval University, Quebec City, Canada. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and honorary member of the Royal Society of New Zealand. His research focuses on aquatic microbial ecology, light and primary production, and ecosystem responses to climate change, with emphasis on Arctic and Antarctic waters. He has served on the editorial boards of Antarctic Science and Polar Biology, and on various research committees and studies. He was inaugural Chair of Canada's National Antarctic Committee. He teaches undergraduate, graduate and field courses in limnology at Laval University, and… has been an instructor in the outreach initiative 'Students on Ice' to Antarctica. Dr. Johanna Laybourn-Parry is vice-provost Research at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Prior to that she was Executive Dean of Science at Keele University, UK, and Professor of Environmental Biology at Nottingham University. Her research is undertaken in the Antarctic with the Australian and US Antarctic programmes and in the Arctic at the Natural Environment Research Council Station in Svalbard. Her research interests focus on carbon cycling in polar lakes, protozoan ecophysiology, viral bacterial dynamics, bioprospecting for novel biochemicals, remote sensing of lake environments and biological processes on glaciers. She has published two sole authored books, and 128 peer reviewed articles and reviews. Her work has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, The European Union, the Royal Society, Industry and logistic support from the Australian Antarctic Science Advisory Committee and NSF.
Arthur C. Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England, on December 16, 1917. During World War II, he served as a radar specialist in the RAF. His first published piece of fiction was Rescue Party and appeared in Astounding Science, May 1946. He graduated from King's College in London with honors in physics and mathematics, and worked in scientific research before turning his attention to writing fiction. His first book, Prelude to Space, was published in 1951. He is best known for his book 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was later turned into a highly successful and controversial film under the direction of Stanley Kubrick. His other works include Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, The… Garden of Rama, The Snows of Olympus, 2010: A Space Odyssey II, 2062: Odyssey III, and 3001: The Final Odyssey. During his lifetime, he received at least three Hugo Awards and two Nebula Awards. He died of heart failure on March 19, 2008 at the age of 90.