Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Another reason to study climate science


I consider myself an informal student of climatology, and as such, I've been learning what I can about the topic through science journals, scientists' blogs, and books. Though this self-guided method provides a window into the scientific concensus, it also leaves gaps. Stephen Schneider's work was one of my gaps.

I learned today that Stephen Schneider has passed away. He was probably the greatest climate scientist whose name I didn't know, that is, till I read his book Science as a Contact Sport. "So this was the guy who...." was my reaction throughout his book; I had heard of his contribution but not his name, and now I'm enjoying the pleasure of associating his name with his acheivments.

I will continue to study climatology the hope of further understanding his contributions.

jg


2 comments:

Philip H. said...

Good on ya! That's on eo fthe many books on my reserve list at the local library.

jg said...

It is a very good book. I'll never forget his conflict over modeling nuclear winter scenarios, in which his work showed that a nuclear winter could be avoided if the war were fought in July and his reaction something like "my God! I told them when to launch".

I probably shouldn't commit myself with all I have going, but if time allows I should write the local papers and mention that now would be a good time for anyone who echoed the "they predicted an iceage in the 70s" meme to apologize.

jg