A well-known scientist Wallace Smith Broecker who raised premature alarms about climate change and popularized the term “global warming” has died at 87.
Smith Broecker was born in Chicago in 1931. Later on joined Columbia’s faculty in 1959 and was known in science circles as the “Grandfather of Climate Science” and the “Dean of Climate Scientists.”
Broecker received the National Medal of Science in 1996 and was a member of the National Academy of Science. He also served a spell as the research coordinator for Biosphere 2, an experimental living environment bowed research lab.
Broecker brought “global warming” into common use with a 1975 article that correctly predicted rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere would lead to distinct warming.
He later became the first person to be familiar with what he called the Ocean Conveyor Belt, a global network of currents disturbing everything from air temperature to rain patterns.
It is probable that warming caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases could be enough to affect the ocean currents dramatically. “We’re playing with an angry beast — a climate system that has been shown to be very sensitive,” Broecker said.