Wallace S. Broecker

Wallace S. Broecker (1931-2019) was a geologist whose landmark 1975 scientific paper “Climate Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” popularized the phrase, and whose predictions about the dangers of increasing carbon monoxide levels in the atmosphere brought national attention to environmental crises.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and a Ph.D. in geology from Columbia University, joining its faculty to become the Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Wallace received many science awards for his work, including the National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton in 1996 and Sweden’s Crafoord Prize in Geosciences in 2006.

Known as the “Grandfather of Climate Science” or the “Father of Global Warming,”—who also coined the term “the global conveyor” for the ocean currents that circulate warm water around the planet—Wallace wrote several books including Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat—And How to Counter It (with Robert Kunzig).