Wallace Smith Broecker
Wallace Smith Broecker | |
---|---|
Global Warming | |
Spouses |
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Awards | Urey Medal (1990) (2012)Wollaston Medal (1990) Roger Revelle Medal (1995) National Medal of Science (1996) Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2002) Crafoord Prize (2006) BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2008) Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Geochronology, chemical oceanography, climate change |
Institutions | Columbia University, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory; Arizona State University, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability |
Wallace "Wally" Smith Broecker (November 29, 1931 – February 18, 2019) was an American geochemist. He was the Newberry Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at
Life
Born in Chicago in 1931,
In 1975, Broecker popularized the term
Broecker co-wrote an account of climate science with the science journalist, Robert Kunzig. This included a discussion of the work of Broecker's Columbia colleague Klaus Lackner in capturing CO2 from the atmosphere—which Broecker believed must play a vital role in reducing emissions and countering global warming. Broecker was described in the New York Times as a geoengineering pioneer.[8]
Broecker had 8 children, 7 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren. His wife Grace E. Broecker (née Carder) died in 2007.[9] They were together for 53 years. Broecker married Elizabeth Clark in 2009.[10] He died of congestive heart failure[11] in New York City on February 18, 2019.[12] Days before his death, he gave a livestreamed video message to his fellow scientists, where he said that humankind was not moving quickly enough to stop global warming and urged the scientific community to "seriously study more extreme solutions to the climate crisis."[11][13]
Research
Broecker's areas of research included
Broecker authored more than 500 journal articles and 17 books.[14] He is perhaps best known for his discovery of the role played by the ocean in triggering the abrupt climate changes which punctuated glacial time, in particular the development and popularization of the idea of a global "ocean conveyor" linking the circulation of the world's oceans.[14][15] However, his contributions stretch far beyond the "conveyor"; his work is the foundation of carbon cycle science, and his applications of radiocarbon to paleoceanography are landmarks in the field. His work with chemical tracers in the ocean is integral to modern chemical oceanography; indeed, his textbook "Tracers in the Sea", authored with Tsung-Hung Peng, is still cited in the contemporary literature 25 years after its publication.[citation needed]
Broecker wrote about his research, on mode changes in the thermohaline circulation: "We have clear evidence that different parts of the earth's climate system are linked in very subtle yet dramatic ways. The climate system has jumped from one mode of operation to another in the past. We are trying to understand how the earth's climate system is engineered, so we can understand what it takes to trigger mode switches. Until we do, we cannot make good predictions about future climate change."[16]
Fellowships and awards
Broecker was a Fellow of the
In 2008 Broecker was the recipient of the Balzan Prize for outstanding achievement in science. His citation was made by Enric Banda (Research Professor of Geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences in Barcelona):[25]
For his extraordinary contributions to the understanding of climate change through his discoveries concerning the role of the oceans and their interactions with the atmosphere, as well as the role of glacial changes and the records contained in ice cores and ocean sediments. His contributions have been significant in understanding both gradual and abrupt climate change.
In 2009, Broecker was awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Climate Change category for his research into the world's oceans, pioneering "the development of Earth System Science as the basis for understanding global climate change, both past and present". The award certificate also highlights "his holistic approach", which has led him to identify "the mechanisms of abrupt climate change".[26]
Broecker received honorary doctorates from
Selected books
- Broecker, Wallace S.; Oversby, Virginia M. (1971), Chemical Equilibria in the Earth (PDF), ISBN 0-07-007997-8.
- — (1974), Chemical oceanography, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp. 214, ISBN 0-15-506437-1.
- —; Peng, Tsung-Hung (1982), Tracers in the Sea (PDF), Eldigio Press, ISBN 0-9617511-0-X.
- — (1988), How to Build a Habitable Planet (PDF), Eldigio Press, ISBN 0-9617511-2-6.
- —; Peng, Tsung-Hung (1993), Greenhouse puzzles, Lamont–Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University.
- — (1995), The glacial world according to Wally (PDF), Eldigio Press.
- — (1998), Greenhouse puzzles: Keeling's world, Martin's world, Walker's world (PDF), Eldigio Press.
- —; Kunzig, Robert (2008), Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat--and How to Counter It, Hill and Wang, US/Profile Books, UK, ISBN 978-0-8090-4501-3.
- — (2010), The Great Ocean Conveyor, Discovering the Trigger for Abrupt Climate Change, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14354-5.
- — (2016), A Geochemist in his Garden of Eden (PDF), Eldigio Press.
See also
References
- ^ Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability – Arizona State University
- ^ a b Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory – The Earth Institute – Columbia University Archived August 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Wallace Broecker '53 Battles the Angry Climate Beast | Columbia College Today". www.college.columbia.edu. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
- ^ a b "Wallace S. Broecker - The Earth Institute - Columbia University". www.earth.columbia.edu. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- ^ "Wallace Broecker '53 Battles the Angry Climate Beast | Columbia College Today". www.college.columbia.edu. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- S2CID 16702835.
- ^ Weart, Spencer R. (February 2014). "The Discovery of Global Warming; The Public and Climate Change: Suspicions of a Human-Caused Greenhouse (1956–1969)". American Institute of Physics. Retrieved May 12, 2015., and footnote 27
- ^ Broad, William J. (June 27, 2006). "How to Cool a Planet (Maybe)". The New York Times. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ "Grace E. (Carder) Broecker". The Record/Herald News. February 5, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2018 – via Legacy.com.
- ^ Gruen, Abby (August 8, 2010). "N.J. scientist who coined 'global warming' term tries to avoid the limelight 35 years later". NJ.com. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
Most mornings, before settling down to work, Broecker takes a walk with his wife, Elizabeth Clark, a technician at Lamont whom he married last October.
- ^ a b "Wallace Smith Broecker, the 'grandfather' of climate science, leaves a final warning for Earth". Green Energy Times. March 4, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
- ^ "Near death, the man who named 'global warming' urged a radical solution". NBC News. March 3, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- PMID 10677462.
- ^ "Faculty and Instructional Staff: Wallace S. Broecker". Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Columbia University. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ Crafoord prize in geoscience 2006
- ^ National Science Foundation – The President's National Medal of Science
- ^ European Association of Geochemistry (EAG)
- ^ "V.M. Goldschmidt Award". Geochemical Society. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
1987 Wallace S. Broecker
- ^ "Wollaston Medal". Award Winners since 1831. Geological Society of London. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
- ^ "Franklin Institute Laureate Award Page". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
- ^ "Wallace S. Broecker". Premios Fronteras (in Spanish). Retrieved March 13, 2019.
- ^ "Balzan Foundation announced 2008 prize winners". EurekAlert!. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
- ^ "Wallace S. Broecker, pioneer in the study of global warming, wins the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award" (PDF). BBVA Foundation. January 13, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- ^ Rosenberg, John S. (May 28, 2015). "Harvard's 2015 Honorary-degree Recipients". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
External links
- Glaciers That Speak in Tongues and other tales of global warming, by Wallace S. Broecker
- Interview with Wally Broecker, August 31, 2008
- Oral History interview transcript with Wallace S. Broecker on 29 December 1995, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session I
- Oral History interview transcript with Wallace S. Broecker on 8 May 1997, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session II
- Oral History interview transcript with Wallace S. Broecker on 6 June 1997, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session III
- Oral History interview transcript with Wallace S. Broecker on 14 November 1997, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session I
- Oral History interview transcript with Wallace S. Broecker on 21 December 1997, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - II
- Canadian Broadcast Corporation audio interview with Wallace S. Broecker 21 April, 1975, CBC Archives
- BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards