A former King’s pupil credited with uncovering reasons for mass species extinctions hundreds of millions of years ago has been awarded the Polar Medal.
Prof John Marshall has made 19 expeditions to Greenland and Norway over 30 years. He has shown how separate extinction events on Earth were caused by volcanic eruptions and an ultraviolet atmospheric burst, the University of Southampton said.
Prof Marshall has been awarded a Polar Medal by His Majesty King Charles III in the 2026 New Year’s Honours. The Polar Medal is awarded for outstanding service to the UK in the field of polar research. Previous recipients have included famed explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary. It replaced Arctic Medals, which were awarded for exploration in the 19th Century.
Drilling the End Devonian mass extinction at 1000m on Celsius Bjerg, East Greenland. Credit: Alex Chevanne
Professor Marshall, from the University of Southampton, is an expert on the Devonian Old Red Sandstone Continent which existed 380 million years ago and included parts of Scotland, East Greenland and Norway’s Spitsbergen.
“The Old Red Sandstone Continent is particularly important as it contains fossils of the first four legged animals, which evolved from fish with fins, and some of the world’s first forests,” said Professor Marshall.
Prof Marshall, who attended King's from 1965-1972, said: "It has always been a great privilege to work in these remote areas. You can visit places nobody has ever been so there is always a great sense of adventure and discovery. It can be very challenging with significant manual effort and endless climbing, often in extreme conditions with blizzards and storms.
"On the way we have encountered many of the fabulous arctic animals such as narwhal, muskoxen and of course polar bears."
In Greenland, Prof Marshall discovered the earliest known seed plant and the geological ages of the earliest four-legged animals, the university said.
On Spitsbergen, an island in Svalbard, he is credited with identifying a new type of prehistoric forest as well as details of a 55-million-year-old warming event.
Professor Marshall said: “It is fantastic to receive this honour and royal recognition for my Arctic research. None of this has been achieved alone as scientific expeditions are always collaborative with many British and international colleagues, and I have benefitted from working with many talented geologists and palaeontologists.
“I have also received the vital support from family at home with ice free conditions in East Greenland – the ideal time to conduct research – always appearing to coincide with school summer holidays. I particularly value this medal as my great uncle John Warnock was awarded one as an officer on the RRS William Scoresby, and a forerunner of the National Oceanography Centre Southampton, where I am now based.”
The Polar Medal was instituted in 1904 to reward Capt Robert Falcon Scott's first successful expedition to the Arctic. Previous recipients include explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary.