A Lifelong Dedication to Planktonology Ends at 97
Tagea Kristina Simon Björnberg, a Brazilian marine biologist who specialized in plankton research and continued naming crustacean species into her late eighties, died before June 26, 2023, at the age of 97, according to a death announcement from the SBC.
Born on September 20, 1925, in São Vicente, São Paulo, Björnberg built a decades-long academic career studying copepods and marine biology at the University of São Paulo (USP) and the University of Paraná. Her passing marked the loss of a planktonologist whose scientific contributions spanned over half a century of active research.
From Literary Character to University of São Paulo Graduate
As an 11-year-old child, Björnberg wrote a letter to children’s writer Monteiro Lobato, suggesting he introduce a new character to his stories. Lobato accepted the proposal and incorporated her into the Sítio do Picapau Amarelo book series as the character Björnberg de Coqueiros, as documented by Alvaro E. Migotto and Luciano D.S. Abel.
That early curiosity about the natural world guided her toward formal scientific training at the University of São Paulo, where she earned her licenciado degree in biology in 1948. She subsequently worked as an assistant professor of zoology at the University of Paraná from 1952 to 1954 before returning to USP as a planktonologist at the Oceanographic Institute (IO-USP), where she completed her PhD in 1957.
Advancing to Chief Oceanographer and Securing Grants
By 1960, Björnberg had advanced to the position of chief oceanographer at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo. She stepped down from that administrative role in 1966 to transition back to teaching as an assistant professor of zoology at USP’s Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences, where she remained until her retirement.
Her research drew international and domestic funding during her career. She secured a grant from the Dutch government in 1963, followed by a São Paulo Research Foundation grant for 1963–1964. In 1967, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship specifically to support her ongoing study of the systematics of copepods.
Unrelenting Taxonomic Work at CEBIMar Into Her Nineties
Even after formally retiring from the University of São Paulo, Björnberg maintained an active research agenda at the CEBIMar in São Sebastião. By March 2021, she was still conducting research at the facility at the age of 96.
Her taxonomic work extended deep into her later decades. In a 2014 article published in the journal Nauplius, she described and named three new species of benthonic Harpacticoida copepods. Her influence on carcinology is reflected in two crustacean species named in her honor by other researchers: Oithona bjornbergae, described by Frank D. Ferrari and Thomas E. Bowman in 1980, and Noodtorthopsyllus tageae, described by Rony Huys and Terue Cristina Kihara in 2010.
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