Willie Soon

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Willie Wei-Hock Soon (born 1966) is an astrophysicist at the Solar and Stellar Physics Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is known for his views that most global warming is caused by solar variation.

In addition to writing a range of technical papers on solar and stellar behavior, the physics of climate change, and an astronomy textbook for students who have no access to telescopes, Soon co-authored The Maunder Minimum and the Variable Sun–Earth Connection with Steven H. Yaskell (2004). The book treats historical and proxy records of deep climate change by examining the extended global cooling period known as the Maunder Minimum (c 1645-1715).^[1] This period is notable for a dearth of solar activity, measured today in isotopic records and corroborated by eyewitness accounts of unusual weather at the time. In 2004 Soon was awarded the "Petr Beckmann Award for courage and achievement in the defense of scientific truth" by Doctors for Disaster Preparedness.^[2]

He is associated with the George C. Marshall Institute, where he recently co-authored Lessons and Limits of Climate History: Was 20th Century Climate Unusual?^[3] with Sallie Baliunas. The pair have also written for the Fraser Institute of Canada regarding Sun-climate connections. Soon and Baliunas have generated controversy ^[4] because their research was funded in part by the American Petroleum Institute^[5], a trade association accused of exerting improper influence over U.S. climate change policy.^[6]