Tim Lenton
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Tim Lenton
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|birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1973|07}}
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|work_institutions = University of Exeter
University of East Anglia
|alma_mater = Robinson College, Cambridge
University of East Anglia (PhD)
|doctoral_advisor = Andrew Watson{{cite web|url=http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Timothy_Lenton|title=Professor Tim Lenton Chair in Climate Change/Earth Systems Science|publisher=University of Exeter|access-date=22 July 2012}}
|thesis_title = Redfields green ocean : a geophysical model of marine nitrate, phosphate and atmospheric oxygen regulation
|thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.389395
|thesis_year = 1998
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Timothy Michael Lenton {{small|OBE FGS FLS FRSB}} (born July 1973) is Professor of Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter. He was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2013,{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2013/new-wolfson-research-merit-awards/|title=Royal Society announces new round of Wolfson Research Merit Awards|date=26 April 2013|publisher=Royal Society|access-date=23 April 2014}} and was appointed OBE in June 2025.
Background
He graduated with a first-class degree in natural sciences from Robinson College, Cambridge in 1994 and completed his PhD under Andrew Watson at the University of East Anglia in 1998.{{cite web|title=Tim Lenton|url=http://f1000.com/prime/thefaculty/member/499999771097547820|website=Faculty of 1000|access-date=8 October 2016}}
Gaia hypothesis
Lenton has taken an interest in the Gaia hypothesis for much of his career. Early in his career, in the journal Nature,{{cite journal | author = Lenton, T. |year = 1998 | title = Gaia and Natural Selection | journal = Nature | volume = 394 |issue = 6692 | pages = 439–447 | doi = 10.1038/28792 | pmid=9697767|bibcode = 1998Natur.394..439L |s2cid = 4412683 }} Lenton addressed a concern that the Gaia hypothesis was incompatible with the theory of natural selection by demonstrating that a model based on Daisyworld was strengthened by incorporating natural selection. Lenton, with Andy Watson, co-authored the book Revolutions that Made the Earth;{{cite book |title=Revolutions that Made the Earth |last1=Lenton |first1=Tim|isbn=9780199587049 |date=20 March 2011 |publisher=OUP Oxford}} it expands on the ideas of James Lovelock on the Gaia hypothesis, by highlighting mechanisms by which the Earth system has been stabilised by negative feedbacks throughout Earth history.
Climate change
=Impacts=
Lenton has participated in studies of possible population displacement due to climate change.{{Cite news |last=Carrington |first=Damian |date=2023-05-22 |title=Global heating will push billions outside ‘human climate niche’ |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/22/global-heating-human-climate-niche |access-date=2023-08-21 |issn=0261-3077}}
=Tipping points=
Lenton has been called 'a leading tipping point expert'.{{Cite web |title=The scourge of climate doomism {{!}} Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/60f6e94a-eb3b-4a3e-9ef6-273262967121 |access-date=2023-08-21 |website=www.ft.com}}{{Cite web |title=A Sustainable Future: Prof. Tim Lenton, on Planetary Boundaries, Early Warning Systems and Climate Tipping Points {{!}} Man Institute |url=https://www.man.com/maninstitute/ri-podcast-tom-lenton |access-date=2023-08-21 |website=www.man.com |language=en-gb}}
Lenton was awarded the OBE in the King's Birthday Honours, 2025, for services to understanding climate tipping points.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/64759/supplement/B13|title=Page B9 | Supplement 64759, 14 June 2025 | London Gazette | The Gazette|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}
Publications
- {{Cite journal| last1 = Lenton | first1 = T. M.| last2 = Marsh| last3 = Price| last4 = Lunt| last5 = Aksenov| last6 = Annan| last7 = Cooper-Chadwick| last8 = Cox| last9 = Edwards| title = Effects of atmospheric dynamics and ocean resolution on bi-stability of the thermohaline circulation examined using the Grid ENabled Integrated Earth system modelling (GENIE) framework | first21 = A.| last21 = Yool | first20 = M. S.| last20 = Williamson | first19 = G.| last19 = Williams | first18 = P. J.| last18 = Valdes | first17 = J. G.| last17 = Shepherd | first16 = I. C.| last16 = Rutt | first15 = A. J.| last15 = Payne | first14 = V. N.| last14 = Livina | first13 = Z.| last13 = Jiao | first12 = P. P.| last12 = Harris | first11 = J. C.| journal = Climate Dynamics| last11 = Hargreaves| volume = 29| issue = 6 | first10 = S.| pages = 591| year = 2007 | doi = 10.1007/s00382-007-0254-9 | first2 = R.| last10 = Goswami | first3 = A. R. | first4 = D. J. | first5 = Y. | first6 = J. D. | first7 = T. | first8 = S. J. | first9 = N. R.|bibcode = 2007ClDy...29..591L | s2cid = 12716899| url = http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/1376/3/LentonetalPostPrintCDynamics.pdf}}
- {{Cite journal| last1 = Goldblatt | first1 = C.| last2 = Lenton | first2 = T.| last3 = Watson | first3 = A.| title = Bistability of atmospheric oxygen and the Great Oxidation| journal = Nature| volume = 443| issue = 7112| pages = 683–686| year = 2006| pmid = 17036001 | doi = 10.1038/nature05169 |bibcode = 2006Natur.443..683G | s2cid = 4425486}}
- {{Cite journal | first1 = T. M. |last1 = Lenton | first2 = M. S. |last2 = Williamson | first3 = N. R. |last3 = Edwards | first4 = R. |last4 = Marsh | first5 = A. R. |last5 = Price | first6 = A. J. |last6 = Ridgwell | first7 = J. G. |last7 = Shepherd | first8 = S. J. |last8 = Cox|last9 = The GENIE team| title = Millennial timescale carbon cycle and climate change in an efficient Earth system model| journal = Climate Dynamics| volume = 26| issue = 7–8| pages = 687–711| year = 2006| doi = 10.1007/s00382-006-0109-9|bibcode = 2006ClDy...26..687L |s2cid = 6607417 |url = http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/126700/1/lent_06.pdf }}
- {{Cite journal| last1 = Lenton | first1 = T. M.| last2 = Watson | first2 = A. J.| title = Biotic enhancement of weathering, atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide in the Neoproterozoic| journal = Geophysical Research Letters| volume = 31| issue = 5| pages = L05202| year = 2004 | doi = 10.1029/2003GL018802 | bibcode = 2004GeoRL..31.5202L| doi-access = free}}
- {{Cite journal| last1 = Lenton | first1 = T. M.| title = Land and ocean carbon cycle feedback effects on global warming in a simple Earth system model |journal=Tellus B | volume = 52| issue = 5| pages = 1159–1188| year = 2000 | doi = 10.1034/j.1600-0889.2000.01104.x|bibcode = 2000TellB..52.1159L }}
- {{Cite journal| last1 = Lenton | first1 = T. M.| title = Gaia and natural selection| journal = Nature| volume = 394| issue = 6692| pages = 439–447| year = 1998| pmid = 9697767 | doi = 10.1038/28792|bibcode = 1998Natur.394..439L | s2cid = 4412683}}
References
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Category:Alumni of Robinson College, Cambridge
Category:Alumni of the University of East Anglia
Category:Academics of the University of East Anglia
Category:Fellows of the Geological Society of London
Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology