James Hansen | |
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Born | James Edward Hansen March 29, 1941 Denison, Iowa, U.S. |
Alma mater | University of Iowa |
Known for | |
Awards |
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2016) Tang Prize (2018) Heinz Award in the Environment (2001) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Atmospheric physics |
Institutions | Currently Columbia University; NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies 1967–2013 |
Thesis | The atmosphere of Venus : a dust insulation model (1967) |
Doctoral advisor | Satoshi Matsushima |
Website | www |
James Edward Hansen (born March 29, 1941) is an American adjunct professor directing the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions[4] of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is best known for his research in climatology, his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change.[5][6][7] In recent years, he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of global warming, on a few occasions leading to his arrest.[8]
Hansen also proposed an alternative approach of global warming, where the 0.7°C global mean temperature increase of the last 100 years can essentially be explained by the effect of greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide (such as methane).[9]