Alan Robock
{{Short description|American climatologist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist|image=File:11-FLI-Awards-Ceremony-by-Edwina-Hay-5463.jpg|website=https://people.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/ |honorific_suffix={{hlist|FAAAS|FAGU|FAMS}}|awards=Jule G. Charney Award|birth_date=1949|fields=climatology|alma_mater=University of Wisconsin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology|workplaces=Rutgers University}}
Alan Robock (born 1949) is an American climatologist. He is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, New Jersey.{{cite web|title=Alan Robock|url=http://envsci.rutgers.edu/~robock/|work=Rutgers University|access-date=16 February 2013}} He advocates nuclear disarmament and, in 2010 and 2011, met with Fidel Castro during lecture trips to Cuba to discuss the dangers of nuclear weapons.{{Cite web|url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/Cuba/|title=Fidel and Nuclear Winter}}{{Cite web |date=2010-09-15 |title=Asiste Fidel a conferencia scientifica de Alan Roblock |url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/Cuba/IMG_3278.jpg |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=Granma}}{{cite web | url=http://people.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/ | title=Alan Robock Home Page }} Alan Robock was a 2007 IPCC author, a member of the organisation when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".{{cite web|url=http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg2/index.php?idp=688|publisher=IPCC|year=2007|title=Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/|title=The Nobel Peace Prize 2007|year=2007|publisher=Nobel Prize}}
Life and work
Robock has a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin (1970), a S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1974) and a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1977) in Meteorology under advisor Edward Norton Lorenz.
In 2011, he and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, among others, were part of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences panel, to discuss and advise the Vatican on climate engineering.{{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.1115966108|pmid=22160718|pmc=3251148|title=Geoengineering: The good, the MAD, and the sensible|year=2011|publisher=PNAS|author=Hans Joachim Schellnhuber|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=108|issue=51|pages=20277–20278|bibcode=2011PNAS..10820277S|doi-access=free}} Robock was a lead author in Working Group I for the 2013 published Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Chapter 8).{{cite web|url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/authors.php?q=1&p=8|title=Fifth Assessment Report: Working Group I (Chapter 8)|publisher=IPCC|year=2013|author=IPCC}} In 2017, Robock published an open letter in the Huffington Post, addressed at Donald Trump, warning him about nuclear weapons, and nuclear winter.{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-robock/an-open-letter-to-preside_26_b_14041438.html|title=An Open Letter to President-Elect Trump about Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Winter|year=2017|publisher=Huffington Post}} In 2022, Robock, along with seven other recipients, was presented with the Future of Life Award. The honor was bestowed for Robock's efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear war by developing and popularizing the science of nuclear winter.{{Cite web |title=Future Of Life Award |url=https://futureoflife.org/future-of-life-award/ |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=Future of Life Institute |language=en-US}}
Research
Robock has researched nuclear winter,{{cite journal |doi=10.5194/acp-7-2003-2007 |author =Robock, Alan |author2 =Luke Oman |author3 =Georgiy L. Stenchikov |author4 =Owen B. Toon |author5 =Charles Bardeen |author6 =Richard P. Turco |name-list-style =amp |title=Climatic consequences of regional nuclear conflicts |journal=Atmos. Chem. Phys. |volume=7 |pages=2003–12 |year=2007 |url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/acp-7-2003-2007.pdf |issue=8|bibcode =2007ACP.....7.2003R |doi-access=free }}
{{cite journal |author =Robock, Alan |author2 =Luke Oman |author3 =Georgiy L. Stenchikov |name-list-style =amp |title=Nuclear winter revisited with a modern climate model and current nuclear arsenals: Still catastrophic consequences |journal=J. Geophys. Res. |volume=112 |issue =D13 |pages=D13107 |year=2007 |doi=10.1029/2006JD008235 |url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/RobockNW2006JD008235.pdf |bibcode=2007JGRD..11213107R|doi-access=free }}
{{cite journal |doi=10.5194/acp-7-1973-2007 |author =Toon, Owen B. |author2 =Richard P. Turco |author3 =Alan Robock |author4 =Charles Bardeen |author5 =Luke Oman |author6 =Georgiy L. Stenchikov |name-list-style =amp |title=Atmospheric effects and societal consequences of regional scale nuclear conflicts and acts of individual nuclear terrorism |journal=Atmos. Chem. Phys. |volume=7 |pages=1973–2002 |year=2007 |url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/acp-7-1973-2007.pdf |issue=8|bibcode =2007ACP.....7.1973T |doi-access=free }}
{{cite journal |author =Toon, Owen B. |author2 =Alan Robock |author3 =Richard P. Turco |author4 =Charles Bardeen |author5 =Luke Oman |author6 =Georgiy L. Stenchikov |name-list-style =amp |title=Consequences of regional-scale nuclear conflicts |journal=Science |volume=315 |pages=1224–5 |year=2007 |doi= 10.1126/science.1137747|url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/SciencePolicyForumNW.pdf |pmid=17332396 |issue=5816|s2cid =129644628 }}
{{cite journal |author=Toon, Owen B. |author2=Alan Robock |author3=Richard P. Turco |title=Environmental consequences of nuclear war |journal=Physics Today |volume=61 |issue= 12|pages=37–42 |date=December 2008 |doi=10.1063/1.3047679 |bibcode=2008PhT....61l..37T |doi-access=free }} the Toba catastrophe theory,{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1029/2008JD011652| title = Did the Toba volcanic eruption of ~74 ka B.P. produce widespread glaciation?| year = 2009| last1 = Robock | first1 = A.| last2 = Ammann | first2 = C. M.| last3 = Oman | first3 = L.| last4 = Shindell | first4 = D.| last5 = Levis | first5 = S.| last6 = Stenchikov | first6 = G.| journal = Journal of Geophysical Research| volume = 114| issue = D10| pages = D10107| bibcode=2009JGRD..11410107R| doi-access = free}} the little ice age, the effect of volcanic eruptions on climate, soil moisture, human impacts of climate change, regional atmosphere-hydrology modeling, and geoengineering. In 2022, an analysis led by Lili Xia and Alan Robock of Rutgers University quantified the effects of nuclear war on global food production in the journal Nature Food. The study estimates that with their current number of warheads, a nuclear war between the US and Russia could generate 150 million tons of soot, thanks to massive fires ignited by explosions. The soot would quickly cover the globe and block incoming sunlight, creating the equivalent of a shade and causing drastic global cooling. Crops and livestock would wither and die in the cold and dark. The research concludes that nuclear winter could result in an estimated 5 billion deaths from famine if global calorie production drops by 90 percent.{{Cite web |last=Walsh |first=Bryan |date=2022-08-17 |title=What could a nuclear war do to the climate — and humanity? |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/8/17/23306861/nuclear-winter-war-climate-change-food-starvation-existential-risk-russia-united-states |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=Vox |language=en}}
Honors
- Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, 1998."[https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/about-ams/ams-organization-and-administration/list-of-fellows/ List of Fellows]", American Meteorological Society. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- Participant in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, 2007.
- American Meteorological Society Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, 2008-2009."[https://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/lectureships/past-lecturers/2008-2009 Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturers, 2008-2009]", Sigma Xi. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008."[https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/AnnualReports/2008/aaas_ann_rpt_08k_fellows.pdf AAAS Fellows]", American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
- Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, 2011."[https://honors.agu.org/honorsfellow/2425-robock/ For important contributions to understanding the global climate system, including the climate impacts of soil moisture, of snow and ice, and of stratospheric aerosols.]", American Geophysical Union. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
- Jule G. Charney Award of the American Meteorological Society, 2015, "For fundamental contributions toward understanding the climatic effects of stratospheric aerosols from volcanoes and other potential sources, and the role of soil moisture in climate.""[https://sebsnjaesnews.rutgers.edu/2014/11/alan-robock-wins-prestigious-american-meteorological-society-award/ Alan Robock Wins Prestigious American Meteorological Society Award]", (November 24, 2014). Rutgers University. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- 2022 Future of Life Award (Nuclear Winter){{Cite web |title=Future Of Life Award |url=https://futureoflife.org/future-of-life-award/ |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=Future of Life Institute |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist|3}}
External links
- [http://envsci.rutgers.edu/~robock/ Homepage]
- [https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31475761 'Next Pinatubo' a test of geoengineering (BBC, 2015)]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrEk1oZ-54 Nuclear winter - still possible but preventable: Alan Robock at TEDxHoboken]
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Category:Date of birth missing (living people)
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
Category:Rutgers University faculty
Category:American climatologists
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Fellows of the American Geophysical Union