Marten Scheffer
| Marten Scheffer | |
|---|---|
Scheffer in 2013
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| Born |
13 September 1958 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Utrecht University |
| Awards | Spinoza Prize (2009), BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2016) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ecology, biology, complex systems |
| Institutions | Wageningen University and Research Centre |
Marten Scheffer (born 13 September 1958) is a Dutch ecologist, mathematical biologist and professor of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management at Wageningen University and Research Centre. He was a winner of the 2009 Spinoza Prize. His research focuses on complex systems and their adaptability.
Scheffer was born on 13 September 1958 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He studied ecology at Utrecht University and gained a degree in 1985. He obtained a doctorate from the same university in 1992. He subsequently held research positions at Dorschkamp and the governmental agency RIZA. In 1998 he became professor of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management at Wageningen University and Research Centre and has since headed the department. Scheffer's research focuses on complex systems and their adaptability, finding that different ecosystems have tipping points. His research is located inside the field of ecology as well as outside of it, with studies into climate change and evolution.
In 2009 Scheffer was one of three winners of the Dutch Spinoza Prize and received a 2.5 million euro grant. The awarding organisation, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), praised Scheffer for his contributions "to our understanding of critical transitions in complex systems, varying from shifts in shallow lakes to climate change and the collapse of ancient cultures". As there was no fourth Spinoza Prize awarded in 2009, Scheffer and his co-winners Albert van den Berg and Michel Ferrari asked the NWO to reward them the remaining prize money, which they would spend on a collaborative research effort. Their efforts culminated in a research paper on migraine published in PLOS ONE in 2013. The paper claimed that a critical tipping point of neurons started a migraine attack.
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