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Michael E. Mann

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Michael E. Mann
Born (1965-12-28) 28 December 1965 (age 59)
Amherst, Massachusetts
Nationality United States
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley, Yale University
Known forPaleoclimatology, Temperature record of the past 1000 years
AwardsPhillip M. Orville Prize, NOAA Outstanding Scientific Publication award, 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)
Scientific career
FieldsClimatology
InstitutionsPennsylvania State University, University of Virginia

Michael E. Mann (born 28 December 1965) is an American climatologist, and author of numerous peer-reviewed journal publications. He is currently the Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. He is best known as lead author of a number of articles on paleoclimate and as one of the originators of a graph of temperature trends over the last thousand years, dubbed the "hockey stick graph" for its hockey stick-like 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.

Early life

Mann was born at Amherst, Massachusetts. He studied physics and applied mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, from which he graduated B.S. in 1989, and subsequently gained a Ph.D in geology from Yale University in 1996.

Career and awards

From 1999 to 2005 Mann taught at the University of Virginia, in the Department of Environmental Sciences. 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.

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 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report (2001). Between 1999-2010 he served as principal investigator 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) and co-investigator on other projects funded by the NOAA, NSF, Department of Energy, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Mann has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and prizes. In 1997, while still at Yale University, he was awarded the Phillip M. Orville Prize for an outstanding dissertation in the earth sciences. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) presented him with an award in 2002 for a co-authored scientific paper that appeared in the leading science journal Nature; another co-authored paper in 2002 won the NOAA's outstanding scientific publication award. Scientific American has named him as one of 50 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. He co-founded the award-winning RealClimate blog in the same year and is one of a number of climate scientists who contribute to the blog. The American Geophysical Union awarded Mann its Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing in 2006 to recognize his contributions in reviewing manuscripts for its Geophysical Research Letters journal. The work of Mann and several hundred other scientists who contributed to the IPCC's Third Assessment Report in 2001 received recognition with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Climate change controversies

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. This work has been the subject of a long-running controversy focusing on a graph dubbed the "hockey stick" published in a 1998 study co-authored with Malcolm K. Hughes and Raymond S. Bradley. The graph showed an abrupt rise in global temperatures in the late 20th century after centuries of relative stability. Its prominent appearance in the IPCC Third Assessment Report in 2001 led to it attaining iconic status and becoming a focus of attacks from those opposed to the scientific consensus on climate change. The conclusions represented by the graph were nonetheless endorsed by the US National Academy of Sciences in a 2006 report. Mann has noted that his findings have been "independently verified by independent teams using alternative methods and alternative data sources". More than a dozen subsequent scientific papers, using various statistical techniques and combinations of proxy records, produced reconstructions broadly similar to the original "hockey stick" graph. Almost all of them supported the conclusion that the warmest decade in the last thousand years was probably that at the end of the 20th century.

In November 2009, some of Mann's correspondence with fellow climate researchers was among a number of hacked e-mails at the centre of the Climatic Research Unit email controversy. Some climate change skeptics, such as Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute, alleged that Mann had encouraged colleagues to block the publication of papers disputing his work. Mann rejected allegations of wrongdoing, commenting that the e-mails had been "misrepresented, cherry-picked ... completely twisted to imply the opposite of what was actually being said". Two reviews by Pennsylvania State University in 2010 cleared Mann of any research misconduct, stating that "there is no substance" to the allegations against him, though criticizing him for sharing unpublished manuscripts with third parties. The reports' conclusions were criticized by Michaels and some media commentators, but were welcomed among scientists and academics. Mann welcomed the reports' findings and commented that they "should finally put to rest the baseless allegations against me and my research."

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli began an investigation of Mann in April 2010 focusing on his work at the University of Virginia between 1999-2005. He served a civil investigative demand on the university seeking a broad range of documents, alleging that the hacked e-mails indicated that fraud may have been committed in relation to the award of four grants. The allegation was rejected by Mann and was strongly criticized by scientific and civil liberties organizations and hundreds of individual scientists as being unfounded, entirely unwarranted and an attack on academic freedom. The university filed suit to overturn the demand, citing protection under the First Amendment and charging that Cuccinelli was exceeding his authority.

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ Downie, David Leonard; Brash, Kate; Vaughan, Catherine (2009). Climate Change: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. pp. 169–170. ISBN 9781598841527.
  2. "Curriculum Vitae for Michael E. Mann". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  3. ^ "Final Investigation Report Involving Dr. Michael E. Mann" (PDF). The Pennsylvania State University. June 4, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  4. Fred Pearce (9 February 2010). "Part three: Hockey stick graph took pride of place in IPCC report, despite doubts | Environment". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  5. Brumfiel G (2006). "Academy affirms hockey-stick graph". Nature. 441 (7097): 1032–3. doi:10.1038/4411032a. PMID 16810211. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. Warner, Frank (2010-01-03). "Penn State climate professor: 'I'm a skeptic'". The Morning Call. Archived from the original on 2010-07-06. Retrieved 2010-07-06. And in a wide-ranging interview, Mann says that not all global warming science is settled. It's not yet certain, for example, that the heat is reducing the world population of polar bears or that it increases the number of hurricanes, he said.
  7. Fred Pearce (9 February 2010). "Part four: Climate change debate overheated after sceptics grasped 'hockey stick' | Environment". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  8. "Hackers leak climate change e-mails from key research unit, stoke debate on global warming". Associated Press. 2009-11-21. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
  9. Michaels, Patrick (July 12, 2010). "The Climategate Whitewash Continues". Wall Street Journal.
  10. Irvine C. (2009-12-03). "Climategate: Phil Jones accused of making error of judgment by colleague". Daily Telegraph.
  11. Foley, Henry C. (3 February 2010). "RA-10 Inquiry Report: Concerning the Allegations of Research Misconduct Against Dr. Michael E. Mann, Department of Meteorology, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University" (PDF). The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 7 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  12. "Second University Review Clears Climate Scientist". WSJ.com. Associated Press. July 2, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  13. Donovan, Samantha (July 2, 2010). "'Climategate' scientist cleared by US university". ABC.net.au. Melbourne, Oz: ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). OCLC 271540708. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  14. "ESSC Director Mann comments on Penn State RA-10 Inquiry". Earth System Science Center — News and Events. PennState.
  15. "Final Findings of the Penn State RA-10 Investigation Released". Earth System Science Center — News and Events. PennState.
  16. Helderman, Rosalind S. (2010-05-04). "State attorney general demands ex-professor's files from University of Virginia". Washington Post.
  17. Walker, Julian (2010-05-19). "Academics fight Cuccinelli's call for climate-change records". The Virginian-Pilot.
  18. McNeill, Brian (2010-05-28). "UVa fights inquiry by Cuccinelli". Charlottesville Daily Progress.

External links

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