John Edward Norwood Veron (known as "Charlie" due to his interest in the natural sciences at school)[2] was born in 1945 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

[4] He was the first full-time researcher on the Great Barrier Reef (1972) and the first scientist employed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (1974).

He credited "Red" Gilmartin and John W. Wells from Cornell University as key figures in clarifying his interest in taxonomy in the 1970s.

[citation needed] A sculpture of Veron, called "The Godfather of Coral", was created by Jason deCaires Taylor for the Museum of Underwater Art as part of the Ocean Sentinels above the surface exhibition in 2022.

He has campaigned extensively on climate change, mass bleaching of coral reefs, ocean acidification, and related environmental issues.