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The 1996 Joseph A. Cushman Award
Sheng Jinzhang |
Professor and Academician Sheng Jinzhang (J. C. Sheng) of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica, Peoples' Republic of China, has been selected to receive the Joseph A. Cushman Award in 1996. Professor Sheng is an outstanding, world-renowned Chinese micropaleontologist and biostratigrapher who has contributed extensively to foraminiferal paleontology, particularly Paleozoic foraminifera. His strong scientific commitment to foraminiferal research extends from the 1940's through to the present day. His extensive publications on Paleozoic foraminifers and biostratigraphy appear in various Chinese and international journals and books, and include major and monographic systematic and stratigraphic contributions that are widely cited. A small sampling of these publications includes "Fusulinids" (1959 in the Chinese equivalent of the Treatise on Paleontology), The Permian System in China (1962), The Carboniferous System in China (1962), Fusulinids in China (1962), The Changhsingian and Permo-Triassic boundary in South China (1981), Correlation chart of the Permian System in China (1982), "Fusulinida" (1988), and numerous detailed descriptions of fusulinid faunas and their use in identifying stages in different parts of China. Many are published in both Chinese and English or have extended English summaries. Because he served as a mentor for several generations of micropaleontologists and biostratigraphers, many of these articles are coauthored with his students and co-workers. In these publications, Professor Sheng illustrates and clarifies the biostratigraphy and fossil faunas of the Carboniferous and Permian for much of China. His published works form the basis for an in depth understanding of the several Late Paleozoic faunal biogeographic provinces and subprovinces in the Chinese PaleoTethys and adjacent regions. These studies also have greatly aided our understanding of the Late Permian stratigraphic record, particularly the Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian Stages at the top of the Permian. Within the Chinese PaleoTethyan subprovinces, these stages are well-developed in marine facies with excellent biostratigraphic units. In many other parts of the world, however, the classic well-studied strata of equivalent latest Permian age are dominately evaporites and red beds, such as those of the Ochoan of southwestern North America, the Tatarian of the Russian Platform, and the Zechstein of northern Europe. Professor Sheng and his coworkers, through their more than sixty thorough and excellent published studies, have given us indispensible insights into marine biostratigraphy of the latest Permian that are virtually unavailable in other parts of the world. Professor Sheng was bom in 1921 in Jingjiang County, Jiangsu Province and graduated from Chungking University in 1946. He started his professional career as a geologist for the National Geological Survey of China in 1946 and after three years moved to the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Academia Sinica, where he has progressed through various ranks to his present position of Research Professor and Academician in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition to his research, he has been dedicated to serving his profession. He served for eight years as a Council Member of the Palaeontological Society of China, and more recently he has been made an Honorary Council Member of that Society. He was active in the formation of the Chinese Micropaleontological Society in 1979 and he has continued to serve as an Executive Council Member as well as Chief Editor of Acta Micropaleontology since its founding. He has also been active in the Jiangsu Palaeontological Society, first as Vice President (1981-87) and currently as President (1987-present). Furthermore, his scientific work is widely appreciated by his Chinese colleagues who have repeatedly recognized him with various honors. Several of his publications have been recognized by Chinese National Natural Science Awards, first in 1956, another in 1982, and yet a third in 1987. Professor Sheng still very actively pursues his foraminiferal research. He is currently revising the families of the fusulinaceans and recently published a coauthored study which extensively revises the fusulinacean family Staffellidae. Professor Sheng's international reputation also is well established. He has served effectively as Chairman of the Permian Subcommission (1984-89) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy, was a Titular Member of the Subcomission on Stratigraphic Classification (1984-89), and currently (since 1989) is a Titular Member of the Triassic Subcommission. He has been particularly active in helping to define the Permian/Triassic boundary. Despite the dramatic political turmoil that has existed in mainland China, Professor Sheng's interest in science has persevered and he has maintained communications and contact with his scientific colleagues in the rest of the world. I have had the pleasure to meet Professor Sheng several times. The most recent and most extensive meeting was at the 'Benthos 90' meetings in Japan, and afterwards on the Akiyoshi Limestone field trip. He is a very personable individual with a gentle, but sharp, sense of humor, which is delightful to find in a person who has experienced so much turmoil during his life. The Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research takes great pleasure in awarding the Joseph A. Cushman Award to Professor Sheng in recognition of his active life of foraminiferal studies and his many enduring scientific achievements in elucidating the taxonomy, biostratigraphy, and significance of foraminifera. This is the first time that the Cushman Award has been given to a distinguished Chinese micropaleontologist-biostratigrapher, and it is a great pleasure for this award to be given to a well known Paleozoic foraminiferal expert of Professor Sheng's distinguished international stature.
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