| Michael E. Mann | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 28, 1965 Amherst, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | A.B. applied mathematics and physics (1989), MS physics (1991), MPhil physics (1991), MPhil geology (1993), PhD geology & geophysics (1998)[1] |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley, Yale University |
| Occupation | Climatologist |
| Employer | Pennsylvania State University |
| Known for | Temperature record of the past 1000 years, hockey stick controversy, Climategate |
| Awards | Phillip M. Orville Prize NOAA Outstanding Scientific Publication John Russell Mather Paper of the Year American Geophysical Union Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (jointly with other IPCC members) |
| Website | |
| Mann's home page RealClimate |
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Michael E. Mann (born December 28, 1965) is an American physicist and climatologist, currently director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. He is best known as lead author of a number of articles on paleoclimatology and as one of the originators of a graph of temperature trends over the last thousand years, called the "hockey stick graph" because of its shape. The graph was highlighted in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, receiving both praise and criticism, and has been the subject of a long-running controversy. Mann is also known as a founding member of the RealClimate blog, to which he and a number of other scientists contribute, and is the co-author with Lee R. Kump of Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming (2008).
In November 2009, hackers obtained emails from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia that had been exchanged by Mann and other climatologists and posted them online, triggering the Climatic Research Unit email controversy, dubbed "Climategate" by the media. Two reviews commissioned by Pennsylvania State University cleared Mann of allegations of ethical misconduct arising out of the content of the emails.
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Mann was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. He obtained an A.B. in applied mathematics and physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989, graduating from there with honors. He then studied at Yale University, obtaining an MS in physics in 1991, an MPhil in physics the same year, an MPhil in geology and geophysics in 1993, and a PhD in geology and geophysics in 1998.[1]
From 1999 to 2005 Mann taught at the University of Virginia, in the Department of Environmental Sciences. He then moved to Penn State University.[2] In 2009 he was promoted to professor at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Meteorology and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, and since 2005 has been director of the university's interdepartmental Earth System Science Center.[3] He has been organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences 'Frontiers of Science' and has served as a committee member or advisor for other National Academy of Sciences panels. He served as editor for the Journal of Climate and has been a member of numerous international and U.S. scientific advisory panels and steering groups. He is the lead author or co-author of over 90 scientific publications, the majority of which have appeared in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals. He was a lead author on the “Observed Climate Variability and Change” chapter of the IPCC Third Assessment Report (2001).[4] Between 1999 and 2010 he served as principal or co-principal investigator on five research projects funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and four more funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). He was also co-investigator on other projects funded by the NOAA, NSF, Department of Energy, United States Agency for International Development, and the Office of Naval Research.[4]
Mann is best known for his work on the temperature record of the past 1000 years, which has involved reconstructing climatic fluctuations over the past several millennia, based on evidence from tree rings, ice cores, corals and other physical proxies. In 1998 Mann, Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes co-authored a study titled Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries which included a graph showing an abrupt rise in global temperatures in the late 20th century after centuries of relative stability. In 1999 they extended their study to cover ten centuries, in a paper titled Northern hemisphere temperature during the past millennium: inferences, uncertainties and limitations. The equivalent graph from the 1999 paper was dubbed the "hockey stick" for its shape. His most recent work has focused on the contribution that changes in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation have made to the pre-industrial climate.[5]
The hockey stick graph was prominently featured in the IPCC Third Assessment Report in 2001, and became an iconic symbol of that report and of the scientific consensus on climate change. The methodologies which underlie the hockey stick, as well as numerous papers with similar results, have since become the focus of much controversy. Individuals and groups opposed to the scientific consensus have attempted to use this controversy to advance their views.[6] A 2006 report by the United States National Academy of Sciences supported the conclusions represented by the graph, especially during the period subsequent to 1600 AD, but was critical of the manner in which results from earlier periods were communicated.[7] Mann has said his findings have been "independently verified by independent teams using alternative methods and alternative data sources."[8] More than a dozen subsequent scientific papers produced reconstructions broadly similar to the original graph, and almost all agreed that the warmest decade in the last thousand years was probably that at the end of the 20th century.[9]
Mann was awarded the Phillip M. Orville Prize in 1997 for an outstanding dissertation in the earth sciences at Yale University. His co-authorship of a scientific paper published by Nature won him an award from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 2002, and another co-authored paper published in the same year won the NOAA's outstanding scientific publication award. He was named by Scientific American as one of fifty "leading visionaries in science and technology." The Association of American Geographers awarded him the John Russell Mather Paper of the Year award in 2005 for a co-authored paper published in the Journal of Climate. The American Geophysical Union awarded him its Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing in 2006 to recognize his contributions in reviewing manuscripts for its Geophysical Research Letters journal. Mann's work and that of several hundred other scientists who contributed to the IPCC's Third Assessment Report received recognition with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.[4]
In November 2009, hackers obtained a number of Mann's e-mails with climate researchers at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, and published them on the Internet, sparking a controversy dubbed "Climategate" by the media.[10] Pennsylvania State University (PSU) commissioned two reviews related to the emails and Mann's research, which reported in February and July 2010. They cleared Mann of misconduct, stating there was no substance to the allegations, but criticized him for sharing unpublished manuscripts with third parties.[4][11]
Based on the CRU email leak, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli attempted to obtain documents from the University of Virginia relating to several Mann grant applications. The request, which sparked widespread academic condemnation,[12] was denied in August 2010 by a judge for failure to state sufficient cause.[13][14] Cuccinelli has tried to re-open his case by issuing a revised subpoena.[15]
In October, 2010, Mann wrote an op ed in the Washington Post in which he described several past, present and projected attacks on climate science and scientists by politicians, drawing a link between them and "the pseudo-science that questioned the link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer, and the false claims questioning the science of acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer." Calling them "not good-faith questioning of scientific research [but] anti-science", he called for all his fellow scientists to stand against the attacks.[16]
Mann, along with Gavin Schmidt, Stefan Rahmstorf, and others, co-founded the RealClimate website, launched in December 2004. The website's purpose is to provide a site for commentaries by working climate scientists, "for interested public and journalists." It is part of The Guardian's Environmental Network.[17]
| External images | |
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| Michael Mann with tree rings | |
