Jacques Forest Recipient of the Crustacean Society Award for Research Excellence

The Crustacean Society presented its Award for Research Excellence to Prof. Jacques Forest on 3 September 2007 at a ceremony in Paris, and I believe it is an honor that is long overdue. Jacques Forest began his early studies at the University of Lille in botany and zoology, and in 1946 he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in natural science at the University of Rennes. His early work in his student days was in fisheries biology focused along the Atlantic coast of France. However, some time after his graduation he secured the post of Assistant in the Laboratoire de Zoologie (Crustacea), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in 1949. It was there, under the influence of Professor Louis Fage, he decided to give up research on fish and devote himself to the study of decapod Crustacea, especially pagurids. Over more than 50 years, he has produced more than 150 publications on these animals, as well as on crabs and shrimps. At the Museum he studied a series of collections made by the Danish ships ‘‘Atlantide’’ and ‘‘Galathea,’’ the Dutch expedition in ‘‘Siboga’’, and the US Navy ships ‘‘Albatross’’ and ‘‘Pillsbury’’. In doing so, he utilized collections of Crustacea held by museums all over the world, among them the British Museum, Smithsonian, Royal Museum of Belgium, Zoological Museum Copenhagen, Zoological Museum Amsterdam, Western Australian Museum, National Museum of New Zealand (now known as Te Papa), Oceanographic Institute of Nhatrang, French Institute of Africa, Dakar, Royal Museum of Central Africa Tevuren, Belgium, and many others. However, he was not content to sit in his office and wait for material to come to him but participated in many shipboard expeditions including the OSTPM ship the ‘‘Président Théodore Tissier’’, and the ‘‘Grenadier,’’ searching for fish stocks, and many