CICAR Climate Researcher Awarded Balzan Prize

On September 8, Dr. Wallace S. Broecker, Columbia University Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and principal investigator with NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Climate Applications and Research (CICAR) was named winner of the 2008 Balzan Prize for his seminal work on global climate change. A statement released by the Milan-based Balzan Prize Foundation cited Broecker’s “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 changes.”

The $885,000 prize, one of the world’s largest, is given to honor outstanding science, culture and humanitarian initiatives that advance world peace. The prize, started in 1956, is given in memory of the independent Italian journalist and publisher Eugenio Balzan and will be presented in Rome on November 21. Previous recipients have included zoologist Ernst Mayr, composer Paul Hindemith, oceanographer Roger Revelle, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Background: Broecker is often credited with inventing the term “global warming.” In 1987 he published a paper in the journal Nature in which he proposed that heat is transported around the world by massive ocean currents that interact with the atmosphere—the so-called great ocean conveyor, and an idea still regarded as a breakthrough in climatology. Broecker is the author of over 400 scientific articles and several textbooks. He recently co-authored the book Fixing Climate, in which he proposed to remove large amounts of globe-warming carbon dioxide from the air and store it underground, in order to avert what he sees as a potential climate catastrophe. He has already received numerous honors, including a 1996 National Medal of Science, presented by U.S. president Bill Clinton, and the 2006 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences, from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Significance: Broecker is the lead principal investigator on CICAR’s Abrupt Climate Change Studies research project funded by the NOAA Climate Program Office through CICAR. This research supports NOAA Mission Goal 2 - Understand Climate Variability and Change to Enhance Society's Ability to Plan and Respond.