Born: 8 April 1945, Australia
Died: NA
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
As in natural history museums, academic androcentrism applies to other areas as well, as Australian biologist Helene Marsh discovered. In 1981, she and her mentor, Toshio Kasuya, announced a major discovery. The prevailing theory of the time was that wild animals did not typically live past their reproductive years. But after years of studying reproduction in short-finned pilot whales, they had found that female whales stopped reproducing around age 36 but lived to be around 50 years old. It was the first discovery of menopause in a non-human animal. However, the reaction of the crowd at her presentation of the breakthrough was less than receptive.
“The mainly male audience was quite scathing,” Marsh later recalled. “They couldn’t believe that there would be females in a population that had stopped breeding, because the reason they were there was to breed.”
Calling the response “incredibly sexist,” Marsh recalled comments like “This cannot be true. There would be no point in the females remaining alive if they weren’t reproducing.”
Although their research failed to gain traction, more than 30 years later, a University of Exeter paper showing that orcas also experience menopause was picked up by media including The New York Times and the BBC. Subsequent research documented menopause in false killer whales, narwhals, and beluga whales. The Exeter study’s senior scientist credited Kasuya and Marsh’s paper as the foundation for all later research on the topic.
This biography has been shared from The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, published by the Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Helene Marsh is the world’s foremost authority on the ecology and conservation biology of dugongs and has played a central role in advancing scientific understanding of marine megafauna and management of coastal marine mammals. She is Professor of Environmental Science and Head, Department of Tropical Environment Studies and Geography at James Cook University, as well as Dean of Postgraduate Studies. Marsh has been Chair and member of a number of policy and oversight bodies relating to wildlife conservation and marine environments.
Chronology
1966 – 1967: Career position – Demonstrator in Zoology, University of Queensland
1968: Education – Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc(Hons)), University of Queensland
1968: Career position – Experimental Officer in Animal Health, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Pastoral Research Laboratory, Townsville, Queensland
1969 – 1971: Education – Graduate student, James Cook University
1970 – 2009: Career position – Member, Australian Marine Sciences Association
1972: Career position – Honorary Research Associate, British Museum (Natural History)
1972: Education – Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), James Cook University, Queensland
1974 – 1975: Career position – Research Officer (fractional appointment) in Zoology, James Cook University (funded by Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service)
1976 – 1981: Career position – Research Fellow (fractional appointment) in Zoology, James Cook University (funded by Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service)
1981 – 1985: Career position – Research Fellow (full-time) in Zoology, James Cook University (funded by MSTGS and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Association)
1985 – : Career position – Chair, Sirenia Special Survival Commission, International Union for the Conservation of Nature
1986 – 1987: Career position – Research Fellow (full-time) in Zoology, James Cook University (funded by James Cook University)
1987 – 1989: Career position – Senior Lecturer in Zoology and Co-ordinator MSc program in Tropical Ecology, James Cook University
1989 – 2001: Career position – Chair, Great Barrier Reef Consultative Committee
1990 – 1991: Career position – Associate Professor in Zoology, James Cook University
1991 – 1992: Career position – Chair, Queensland Marine Parks Consultative Committee
1991 – 1994: Career position – Professor of Zoology (Personal Chair) and Director of Environmental Studies, James Cook University
1993 – 1999: Career position – Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee, Queensland Nature Conservation Act
1994 – 1997: Career position – President, Australian Mammal Society
1994 – 1999: Career position – Head of the Department of Tropical Environment Studies and Geography, James Cook University
1994 – 2010: Career position – Professor of Environmental Science, James Cook University
1995 – 1998: Career position – Member of the Board, Queensland Fisheries Management Authority
1995 – 1999: Career position – Member, National Committee for Environment, Australian Academy of Science
1995 – 2001: Career position – Member, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies Advisory Committee, Australian National University
1996 – 1998: Career position – Member, Australian Science, Technology and Engineering Council
1996 – 2000: Career position – Member, CSIRO Marine Sector Advisory Committee
1997 – : Career position – Dean, Graduate Research Studies, James Cook University
1997 – 2008: Career position – Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong
1998: Award – International Fellowship in Marine Conservation, Pew Charitable Trust
1999 – 2000: Career position – Chair, National Committee for Environment, Australian Academy of Science
2000 – : Career position – Dean of Postgraduate Studies at James Cook University
2000 – 2004: Career position – Member, Queensland Coastal Protection Council
2000 – 2006: Career position – Alternate Director of the Board, CRC for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area
2000 – 2009: Career position – Member, Biodiversity and World Heritage Reef Advisory Committee, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
2001: Award – Award for Contributions to Sirenian Research, Society of Marine Mammalogy
2002 – 2006: Career position – Director, CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management
2002 – 2008: Career position – Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Earthwatch Australia
2003 – 2004: Career position – Convenor, Australian Council of Deans Directors of Graduate Studies
2003 – 2006: Career position – Member, National Committee for Sustainability, Australian Academy of Science
2004 – 2008: Career position – Director, Australian Institute of Marine Science, James Cook University
2005 – 2009: Career position – Director, Consortium for Integrated Research Management
2006 – 2010: Career position – Program Leader, Marine and Tropical Research Facility, James Cook University
2006 – 2014: Career position – Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Australian Marine Mammal Centre
2007 – : Career position – Member, Editorial Board, Endangered species research
2008: Award – Distinguished Service Award, Society for Conservation Biology
2009 – : Career position – Member, Editorial Board, Conservation biology
2009 – : Award – Honorary Life Member, Australian Marine Sciences Association
2009: Award – Aldo Leopold Award, American Society of Mammalogy
2009 – 2010: Career position – Member, Management Committee, Australian Institute of Marine Studies, James Cook University
2009 – 2010: Career position – Member, Future Fellowships Panel, Australian Research Council
2010 – : Career position – Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science, James Cook University
2010 – : Career position – Member, Ecosystem Reef Advisory Committee, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
2010 – : Career position – Member, Editorial Board, Oecologia
2010: Award – Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE)
2010 – 2011: Career position – Convenor, Australian Council of Deans Directors of Graduate Studies
2011 – : Career position – Chair, Threatened Species Scientific Committee, Commonwealth Department of Conservation and Energy
2013 – 2014: Career position – President, Society for Marine Mammalogy
2015: Award – Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
2019: Award – Bragg Fellow, Royal Institute of Australia
2019: Award – Silver Jubilee Award, Australian Marine Sciences Association
2021: Award – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) – for distinguished service to the biological and environmental sciences, to the conservation of marine mammals, and to tertiary education