The Grand Experiment: Climate Change and Global Warming
a lecture with powerpoint presentation by Wallace S. Broecker, PhD
Newberry Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Columbia University
Scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Attendance at this lecture affords Professional Engineers the opportunity to earn one Professional Development Hour (PDH) toward their NYS PE license.
Dr. Wallace S. Broecker is perhaps the world's foremost interpreter of the Earth's operation as a biological, chemical, and physical system. He began his research in the 1950s with the development of techniques for measuring the radiocarbon content of ocean water and the ages and accumulation rates of deep sea and lake sediments, using this data to trace ocean circulation patterns over time. One of a group of scientists researching climate change with radiocarbon dating of marine shells found in sediment deposits on the sea bottom, Dr. Broecker helped discover that the abrupt end of the most recent ice age occurred approximately 11,000 years ago.
- The Ashabi Glass Foundation Blue Planet Prize Recipient 1996
He attended Wheaton College and interacted with J. Laurence Kulp and Paul Gast. Broecker then transferred to Columbia University. At Columbia, he worked at the Lamont Geological Observatory with W. Maurice Ewing and Walter Bucher.
Education and Academic and Professional Activities
- 1953 Received bachelor of arts degree from Columbia College of Columbia University
- 1958 Earned doctorate degree from Columbia University
- 1959 Became assistant professor at Columbia University
- 1961 Became associate professor at Columbia University
- 1964 Became full professor at Columbia University
- 1977 Named the Newberry Professor of Geology, Columbia University
- 1979 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.)
- Elected chairman of the Geochemical Society (U.S.A.)
Research interests include paleoclimatology, ocean chemistry, isotope dating, and environmental science.
Major Awards Received
- 1979 Maurice W. Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union
- 1986 Alexander Agassiz Medal of the National Academy of Sciences
Urey Medal of the European Geophysical Union
U.M. Goldschmidt Award, Geochemical Society - 1987 Vetlesen Prize, G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation
- 1990 Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London
- 1995 Roger Revelle Medal of the American Geophysical Union
- 2006 Crafoord Prize.
Selected Books
- Broecker, Wallace S. & Virginia M. Oversby (1971), Chemical Equilibria in the Earth,
- McGraw-Hill Education
- Broecker, Wallace S. (1974), Chemical Oceanography, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
- Broecker, Wallace S. (1995), The Glacial World according to Wally, Eldigio Press
- Broecker, Wallace S. (1998), Greenhouse Puzzles: Keeling's World, Martin's World, Walker's World, Eldigio Press
- Broecker, Wallace S. (1993), Greenhouse Puzzles, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University
- Broecker, Wallace S. (1988), How to Build a Habitable Planet, Eldigio Press
- Broecker, Wallace S. (1982), Tracers in the Sea, Eldigio Press
Wallace Broecker has authored over 400 journal articles and 7 books. He is perhaps best known for his discovery of the role played by the ocean in triggering the abrupt climate changes which punctuated glacial time.
Dr. Broecker writes about his research, on mode changes in the Thermohaline Circulation: "We have clear evidence that different parts of the earth's climate system are linked in very subtle yet dramatic ways. The climate system has jumped from one mode of operation to another in the past. We are trying to understand how the earth's climate system is engineered, so we can understand what it takes to trigger mode switches. Until we do, we cannot make good predictions about future climate change."
Dr. Broecker has pioneered a number of new approaches to studying the earth's climate, including the use of carbon and other isotopes to date marine sediments. He has examined ocean circulation patterns over time, studied gas exchanges between the ocean and the atmosphere, and traced carbon as it cycles through the earth's chemical, physical and biological systems.
Through his association with Gary Comer, the originator of Lands’ End Clothing Company, Dr. Broecker has been instrumental in selecting many of the global group of 31 abrupt change mentors. Together Comer and Broecker have pushed to alert the world to the need to quell the rise in the atmosphere’s greenhouse capacity by capturing and storing the CO2 produced by fossil fuel burning.
Contact Us:
Dorothy Szefc
Coordinator of Cultural Affairs (Middletown)
(845) 341-4891
cultural@sunyorange.edu
Nicole Shea
Coordinator of Cultural Affairs (Newburgh)
(845) 341-9386
All Cultural Affairs Events are open to the public and all buildings are universally accessible.
NOTE: All artists' images on these pages are copyrighted and are used by kind permission of the artists. Please do not download, reproduce or use without permission.