Geography, Nature and History of the Tropical Pacific and its Islands

Walter M. Goldberg (Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Miami) is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University in Miami where he held a faculty position in teaching and research for 39 years. He was one of the original ten members in a Department that now numbers more than 50 faculty. Dr. Goldberg’s research encompasses coral reef biology in topics ranging from octocoral and black coral ecology and distribution, to the histology and cytochemistry of skeleton formation, published in leading journals in the field of marine science. He is also the author of  a textbook, The Biology of Reefs and Reef Organisms (University of Chicago Press, 2013). As the current Chair of the Undergraduate Honors Program in Biological Sciences, he teaches scientific writing to high-achieving seniors in multiple disciplines as they produce a thesis based on original research.

• 1. An Introduction to Tropical Pacific Islands.-  2.Populating the Pacific.- 3. Island Exploration During the Age of Discovery.- 4. Atolls, Islands and the Political Economy of Fertilizer.- 5. The Great Pacific Exchange.-  6.The Impact of Missionaries: Their Role in Shaping Island History and Culture.- 7. Sorting and Reshuffling the Pacific Islands in War and in the Nuclear Age.- 8. Islands in the Age of Global Warming.