Richard Lindzen

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Richard Siegmund Lindzen (born February 8, 1940 in Webster , Massachusetts ) is an American atmospheric physicist and climate skeptic . From 1983 until his retirement in 2013, he was Professor of Meteorology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He previously worked at the University of Chicago (1967–1972) and Harvard University (1972–1983).

Live and act

From 1965 he wrote over 200 scientific publications in the field of meteorology and climatology. His focus is on the mutual influence of different climatic zones and the Rossby waves orbiting the planet . Lindzen has also done research on Hadley cells , an important mechanism for transporting water vapor and energy in the atmosphere.

In 1969 Lindzen was awarded the James B. Macelwane Medal and in 1985 the Jule G. Charney Award . In 1977 he was accepted into both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences . In 1970 he became a Sloan Research Fellow .

Lindzen is married and has two sons.

Denial of scientific knowledge

Global warming theses

Lindzen is one of the most active climate-skeptical scientists (contrarians) who deny man-made climate change . He assumes that mankind is increasing the amount of greenhouse gases , the temperature has also risen. However, the uncertainties are too high to prove a direct connection. In the iris hypothesis he presented in 2001 , Lindzen took the view that the existing climate models did not sufficiently take into account the negative feedback caused by increased cloud formation . The dependence between the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and the temperature would be overestimated, and the regulating role of water vapor as the most important greenhouse gas with over 60% would be downplayed. The influence of CO 2 is 20%, the anthropogenic share of global emissions per year is 3%. Overall, according to Lindzen, large knowledge gaps and uncertainties in the research area are more concealed than revealed in favor of catchy and publicized theses. Possible anthropogenic effects are still in the area of ​​measurement inaccuracies, uncertainties in climate simulations are more and more simply assigned to trace gases instead of trying to reproduce the - in Lindzen's opinion decisive - mechanisms of cloud formation.

Lindzen was a co-author of important parts of the IPCC report for a long time , especially on the central role of water vapor, and has the scientific consensus on climate change mentioned in this context in general and specifically in the IPCC summary for the policy of the third assessment report (2001) vigorously denied. Many other scientists, such as Svante Arrhenius , assume, in contrast to Lindzen, that the water vapor in the atmosphere is positively fed back. Fluctuations in the water vapor concentration would be caused by the lower concentration, but more effective greenhouse gases (such as anthropogenic CO 2 ).

Lindzen alleged that the majority of scientists would consider the human influence on global warming to be proven, primarily out of a desire for validity. Rather, it is about upgrading a science that used to be marginalized and financing complex research projects and simulation computers in connection with policy advice. In this context, he also appeared in hearings of the US Senate, such as later in the controversial documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle .

He was or is connected to three climate denial organizations financed by the oil company ExxonMobil , the Annapolis Center for Science Based Public Policy , the Cato Institute and the George C. Marshall Institute, which was dissolved in 2015 . He is also a member of the CO2 Coalition , a climate denial organization that claims that humankind should emit more carbon dioxide.

In a book contribution, Lindzen equated the overwhelming scientific consensus on the urgent need for massive regulation of energy use and the reaction of interest groups and politicians to what he believed was a similar situation in eugenics around 1900, in which important opinion leaders (e.g. Francis Galton , Alexander Graham Bell , George Bernard Shaw , Winston Churchill as well as Margaret Sanger ) like a broad world public required the scientific underpinning of politically acceptable theses at the time, and these were also provided by a large number of scientists despite contradicting research results.

Together with Robert M. Carter, CR de Freitas, Indur M. Goklany and David Holland, he wrote a comprehensive scientific criticism of the so-called Stern Review , in which the accuracy, completeness and objectivity of the report are questioned.

Theses on tobacco consumption

Lindzen also denies the health hazards that arise from tobacco consumption . Among other things, he argues that there is no harm to health from passive smoking and only weak correlations between lung cancer and cigarette smoking.

Contacts with fossil energy companies

He is accused of research financed by the oil industry by Greenpeace . Ross Gelbspan argues in his book The Heat is On that he advises the oil and coal industry. In June 2016, as a result of the bankruptcy proceedings of the coal company Peabody Energy , which played an important role in the organized climate change denial , files were made public showing that the company was funding a large number of climate-skeptical organizations and individuals. Lindzen was also mentioned in this context. Lindzen testified on behalf of the company as a witness in court about the social costs of carbon dioxide emissions, for which he received US $ 30,000 from Peabody. Lindzen also named - when asked by a court about his funding sources - an annual payment of US $ 25,000 from the libertarian, business- oriented Cato Institute . After his retirement he was “Dinstinguished Senior Fellow” at the Cato Institute from 2013 until the end of the 2010s.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Richard Linzen's list of publications (online)
  2. ↑ Aaron McCright, Dealing with climate change contrarians , in: Susanne C. Moser, Lisa Dilling (ed.) Creating a Climate for Change. Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change . Cambridge University Press 2007, 200–212, p. 200 and especially footnote 2.
  3. ↑ RealClimate: Richard Lindzen's HoL testimony
  4. ↑ Post Lindzen on Youtube
  5. ↑ Peer Teuwsen: "I hope this will stop soon": Interview. In: Weltwoche , edition 13/07. March 28, 2007, archived from the original on March 24, 2014 .;
  6. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists : Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air. How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco's Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science . January 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  7. ↑ https://grist.org/article/pro-trump-billionaires-continue-to-bankroll-climate-denial/ . In: Grist , February 27, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  8. ↑ Science and Politics: Global Warming and Eugenics (PDF; 49 kB) by Richard S. Lindzen, Sloan Professor of Meteorology, MIT, August 31, 1995, in: From Risks, Costs, and Lives Saved, RW Hahn, editor, Oxford University Press, New York, 1996.
  9. ^ Robert M. Carter, CR de Freitas, Indur M. Goklany, David Holland, Richard S. Lindzen, Ian Byatt, Ian Castles, Indur M. Goklany, David Henderson, Nigel Lawson, Ross McKitrick, Julian Morris, Alan Peacock, Colin Robinson, Robert Skidelsky: The Stern Review: A Dual Critique . In: WORLD ECONOMICS . tape 7 , no. 4 , 2006 ( archive.org [PDF]).
  10. ↑ Carter, RM, CR de Freitas, IM Goklany, D. Holland, RS Lindzen: Climate Science and the Stern Review . In: World Economics . tape 8 , 2007, p. 161-182 ( worldeconomics.com ).
  11. ↑ Michael E. Mann , Tom Toles: The madhouse effect. How climate change denial threatens our planet, destroys our politics and drives us insane . Erlangen 2018, p. 65.
  12. ↑ James Lawrence Powell: The Inquisition of Climate Science. New York 2012, p. 63.
  13. ^ Greenpeace: Dealing in doubt
  14. ↑ dieoff.org: The Heat is On (Global Warming Disinformation)
  15. ↑ Biggest US coal company funded dozens of groups questioning climate change . In: The Guardian , June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  16. ^ Judge in climate case made skeptics disclose their donors. Governor's Wind & Solar Energy Coalition, March 23, 2018, accessed April 29, 2018 (Lindzen was involved in a petition in a US state climate lawsuit against BP PLC, Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the parties involved should disclose sources of funding at the request of the judge).
  17. ^ Scott Waldman: US think tank shuts down prominent center that challenged climate science. In: Science - E&E News. May 29, 2019, accessed June 9, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Lindzen, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lindzen, Richard Siegmund (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American atmospheric physicist
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Webster (Massachusetts)