Wallace Smith Broecker

Wallace Smith Broecker
Broecker c. 2010
Born(1931-11-29)November 29, 1931
DiedFebruary 18, 2019(2019-02-18) (aged 87)
Alma materColumbia University (BA, PhD)
Known forGlobal Warming
Spouses
  • Grace Carder
  • Elizabeth Clark
AwardsMaurice Ewing Medal (1979)
A.G. Huntsman Medal (1985)
Vetlesen Prize (1987)
Alexander Agassiz Medal (1986)
Urey Medal (1990)
Wollaston Medal (1990)
Roger Revelle Medal (1995)
National Medal of Science (1996)
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2002)
Crafoord Prize (2006)
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2008)
Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science (2012)
Scientific career
FieldsGeochronology, chemical oceanography, climate change
InstitutionsColumbia University, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory; Arizona State University, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability

Wallace "Wally" Smith Broecker (November 29, 1931 – February 18, 2019) was an American geochemist. He was the Newberry Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, a scientist at Columbia's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and a sustainability fellow at Arizona State University.[1] He developed the idea of a global "conveyor belt" linking the circulation of the global ocean and made major contributions to the science of the carbon cycle and the use of chemical tracers and isotope dating in oceanography. Broecker popularized the term "global warming". He received the Crafoord Prize and the Vetlesen Prize.