Gilbert Plass
Gilbert Norman Plass | |
---|---|
Born | Canadian-American | March 22, 1920
Alma mater | Harvard University, Princeton University |
Known for | Research into the warming properties of carbon dioxide |
Spouse | Thyra |
Children | Gordon Marc Plass and Lucie Susan Plass Kerwood[2] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Thesis | Black body radiation in the theory of action at a distance. (1946) |
Doctoral advisor | John Archibald Wheeler[1] |
Gilbert Norman Plass (March 22, 1920 – March 1, 2004) was a Canadian physicist who in the 1950s made predictions about the increase in global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the 20th century and its effect on the average temperature of the planet that closely match measurements reported half a century later.[3]
Biography
Plass worked most of his life as a
Carbon dioxide research
In 1953 Plass told
From 1956 onwards, Plass published a series of papers on the topic, partly based on advanced calculations of the absorption of infrared radiation, and he made use of early electronic computers. He predicted that a doubling of CO2 would warm the planet by 3.6 °C, that CO2 levels in 2000 would be 30% higher than in 1900 and that the planet would be about 1 °C warmer in 2000 than in 1900. In 2007 the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report estimated a climate sensitivity of 2 to 4.5 °C for CO2 doubling, a CO2 rise of 37% since pre-industrial times and a 1900-2000 warm-up of around 0.7 °C.[3][7]
Nathaniel Rich recognizes Plass in his 2019 bestseller Losing Earth.[8]
Other work
Plass was an avid philatelist,[2] and founded the United States Possessions Philatelic Society in 1978. He then served as the editor of their journal, Possessions, for 14 years.[9]
He also hosted a classical-music oriented radio program called Collector's Choice on KAMU-FM for many years.[10]
Bibliography
- Plass, Gilbert N. (1956). "Infrared Radiation in the Atmosphere". American Journal of Physics. 24 (5). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): 303–321. ISSN 0002-9505.
- Plass, G.N., 1956, Carbon Dioxide and the Climate, JSTOR 27826805
- Plass, Gilbert N. (1956). "Effect of Carbon Dioxide Variations on Climate". American Journal of Physics. 24 (5). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): 376–387. ISSN 0002-9505.
- Plass, G.N., 1956, The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climatic Change, Tellus VIII, 2. (1956), p. 140–154.
- Plass, G.N., 1959, Carbon Dioxide and Climate, JSTOR 24940327
See also
References
- ^ "Gilbert Norman Plass". Physics Tree (academictree.org).
- ^ a b "Gilbert Plass". NNDB. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
- ^ a b Gilbert N. Plass, James Rodger Fleming, and Gavin Schmidt, "Carbon Dioxide and the Climate", American Scientist, 98(1) 58-62. An abridged reprint of Plass's 1959 Scientific American paper with commentary by Fleming and Schmidt
- ^ "Science: Invisible Blanket". Time. May 25, 1953. Archived from the original on March 5, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
- ^ Invisible Blanket, retrieved November 23, 2018
- ^ "2018 awards". San Francisco Green Film Festival. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
- Realclimate.org
- ^ Quotation (p. 189): "In 1953, ... Plass .. had found that fossil fuels might already have warmed Earth by 1 degree Celsius. Worth[clarification needed] was yet to come, Plass predicted".
- ^ McMaster, Len. "ARIPEX 2013". United States Possessions Philatelic Society. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
- ^ "Collector's Choice on KAMU FM/HD-1". www.kamufm.org. Retrieved April 11, 2019.