Identification of microplastics
Identificación de los microplásticos
- Date
- 2004 · confidence medium
- Place
- Plymouth, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Richard C. Thompson (University of Plymouth)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Marine biologist Richard Thompson publishes the study that popularises the term 'microplastics' for millimetre-sized plastic fragments found in sediments and marine organisms.
The term had already been used sporadically since the 1990s; Thompson's 2004 paper established it in academic discourse.
What it led to
- Research field on marine plastic pollution
- Policies restricting plastic microbeads in cosmetics
- Studies on microplastics in the food chain and the human body