John Volkman is internationally acknowledged as an authority on the discovery and application of lipid biomarkers in organic geochemistry, environmental studies, petroleum geochemistry and palaeoclimatology. His studies of the lipids in microalgae, bacteria and archaea, in particular, are foundations on which much modern biomarker research is based. Volkman’s first identification of novel long-chain alkenones in haptophytes underpinned the development of these compounds as palaeotemperature proxies. His work on novel microalgal lipids in sediments has greatly enhanced our understanding of the evolution of lipid biosynthetic pathways, and underpinned numerous biomarker applications in petroleum fingerprinting, environmental effects of aquaculture and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction.