Wallace Broecker

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Wallace Smith Broecker ("Wally") (born November 29, 1931 in Chicago ; † February 18, 2019 in New York City ) was Newberry Professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University and did research at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory there . Broecker's research areas included the geochronology of the Pleistocene , the application of radiocarbon dating and the detection of mixing processes in marine waters from different areas of origin using stable isotopes and radioisotopes . This work in the field of chemical oceanography examined the biological - geochemical carbon cycle and the geological evidence of climate changes that can be detected in the polar ice and the sediments of the oceans.

Life

Broecker attended Wheaton College in Illinois , where he met John Laurence Kulp (1921-2006) and Paul Werner Gast (1930-1973). In 1953 he earned a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Columbia College and the following year a Master of Arts . In 1958 he earned his doctorate ( Ph.D. ) in geology from Columbia University, became an assistant professor on the faculty the following year , and began his work at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, with W. Maurice Ewing and Walter Bucher , among others . In 1962 he became a Sloan Research Fellow . He was promoted to full professor in 1964 , and since 1977 he has held the position of Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Act

Broecker has made significant contributions to clarifying the role of the oceans in causing the abrupt climate changes that occurred in the last Ice Age . His research on thermohaline circulation has made known the concept of a "global conveyor belt" that connects the currents in the oceans. His work in this area is one of the foundations in research into the carbon cycle. Broecker provided important guidance for subsequent work through the application of radiocarbon dating to questions about the extent and properties of the oceans in the past ( paleoceanography ), his textbook Tracers in the Sea , written with Tsung-Hung Peng, is still cited today in articles on chemical oceanography .

Broecker is widely regarded as one who - without intent - the term global warming ( global warming ) created by a paper entitled Climate Change: Are we on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming? published. In fact, the term “global warming” has been used sporadically since the 1950s to refer to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2008 he published an outline of the history of climate science with the science journalist Robert Kunzig. In this book, the authors emphasized the importance of removing carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere for the further development of the climate ( carbon dioxide sequestration ) and thus supported the work of Broecker's colleague Klaus Lackner . The New York Times described Broecker as a pioneer in geoengineering . Wallace Broecker died in February 2019 at the age of 87.

Honors

Broecker was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1976), the National Academy of Sciences (1977), the American Philosophical Society (2015), the American Geophysical Union , the American Association for the Advancement of Science , the European Geophysical Union as well foreign member of the Royal Society . He has received numerous other awards including:

In September 2008 Broecker was awarded the Balzan Prize for exceptional scientific achievements. In his laudation , Enric Banda (Research Professor for Geophysics at the Institute for Geosciences in Barcelona) highlighted Broecker's role: “Wallace Broecker's discoveries about the interaction of the oceans with the atmosphere, about the role of changes in glaciers and about the importance of the information contained in ice samples and in marine deposits contributed in an outstanding way to the understanding of climate change. Broecker's findings are of enormous importance for understanding not only the abrupt but also the gradual climate changes. "

In January 2009 Broecker received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2008 in the category “Climate Change” for his fundamental research in the field of biological and chemical processes. They promoted a view of the earth as a linked system, which is the basis for understanding past and current climate changes. The laudation highlighted his holistic approach, which enabled him to understand the mechanisms of abrupt climate change.

Publications

Broecker is the author of more than 450 articles in scientific journals and has published ten books. His publications include:

  • with Virginia M. Oversby: Chemical Equilibria in the Earth . McGraw-Hill Education, 1971, ISBN 0-07-007997-8 .
  • Chemical oceanography . Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974, ISBN 0-15-506437-1 .
  • The glacial world according to Wally . Eldigio Press, 1995, OCLC 33262006 .
  • Greenhouse puzzles: Keeling's world, Martin's world, Walker's world . Eldigio Press, 1998.
  • Greenhouse puzzles . Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University , 1993.
  • How to Build a Habitable Planet . Eldigio Press, 1988, ISBN 0-9617511-2-6 .
  • with Tsung-Hung Peng: Tracers in the Sea . Eldigio Press, 1982, ISBN 0-9617511-0-X .
  • The ocean. Scientific American, September 1983.
  • with Robert Kunzig: Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat - and How to Counter It . Profile Books, UK, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84668-860-7 .
  • The Great Ocean Conveyor, Discovering the Trigger for Abrupt Climate Change . Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, 2010.
  • with Charles H. Langmuir: How to Build a Habitable Planet. The Story of Earth from the Big Bang to Humankind . Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, USA 2012.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wallace Smith Broecker . ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Biography on the occasion of the Vetlesen Prize, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory - The Earth Institute - Columbia University @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ldeo.columbia.edu
  2. ^ Scientist Who Popularized Term 'Global Warming' Dies at 87. In: The New York Times . February 18, 2019, accessed February 19, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b 2002 Tyler Laureates: Wallace S. Broecker, Ph.D. and Tungsheng Liu, Ph.D. ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. University of Southern California @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.usc.edu
  4. ↑ a b Broecker's homepage at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
  5. ^ WS Broecker: Climatic change; are we on the brink of a pronounced global warming? In: Science . v. 189, n.4201, 1975, p. 460-463 .
  6. ↑ Wallace Broecker: When climate change predictions are right for the wrong reasons . In: Climatic Change . 2017, doi : 10.1007 / s10584-017-1927-y (Open Access).
  7. ^ Wallace S. Broecker, Robert Kunzig: Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat - and How to Counter It . Profile Books, UK, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84668-860-7 .
  8. ^ William J. Broad: How to Cool a Planet (Maybe). In: The New York Times. June 27, 2006, accessed May 27, 2010 .
  9. ^ Maurice Ewing Medal. American Geophysical Union
  10. ↑ Alexander Agassiz Medal. National Academy of Sciences
  11. ^ A b c 1996 Blue Planet Prize: Announcement of Award Winners. Broecker's biography on the occasion of the award of the Blue Planet Prize (PDF file; 544 kB)
  12. ^ Geochemical Society: Victor Moritz Goldschmidt Award
  13. ↑ Wollaston Medal. In: Award Winners since 1831. Geological Society of London , archived from the original on August 19, 2010 ; Retrieved February 25, 2009 .
  14. ^ National Science Foundation - The President's National Medal of Science
  15. ^ Blue Planet Prize. Asahi Glass Foundation
  16. ↑ Crawford prize in geoscience 2006
  17. ↑ 2008 Franklin Institute Awards: Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science ( Memento from July 30, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Franklin Institute
  18. ↑ International Balzan Prize Foundation ( Memento from July 22, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  19. ↑ Wallace S. Broecker ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Winner of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fbbva.es
  20. ^ Wallace S. Broecker: Bio-bibliography. ( Memento from July 18, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) 2008 Balzan Prize for Climate Science: Climate Change
personal data
SURNAME Broecker, Wallace
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Broecker, Wallace Smith; Broecker, Wallace S .; Smith Broecker, Wallace
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American geochemist and climate researcher
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 2019
Place of death New York City