Wonder

“On 6 July 2009, Sir David Attenborough introduced an Australian, John Veron, to a Royal Society audience in London, describing him as the world’s greatest scientific authority on corals and coral reefs. Attenborough also observed that Veron had long carried the nickname ‘Charlie’ because of his affinities with the great Charles Darwin. Against the countervailing conditions of the modern world, ‘Charlie’ had made himself a pre-eminent modern scientist without ever losing Darwin’s fierce independence, unquenchable curiosity and passionate love of nature. Today, said Sir David, Charlie would answer the confronting question, ‘Is the Barrier Reef on Death Row?’ and he would also show how coral reefs could unlock the truth about climate change. For forty years Charlie had celebrated the astonishing multiplicity and complexity of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, now he would prophesy their death.”