The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York City. It was named after

Robert H. Goddard Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. Goddard successfully laun ...

, American engineer, professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

. Research at the GISS emphasizes a broad study of

global change Global change in broad sense refers to planetary-scale changes in the Earth system. It is most commonly use to encompass the variety of changes connected to the rapid increase in human activities which started around mid-20th century, i.e. the ...

, the natural and anthropogenic changes in our environment that affect the habitability of our planet. These effects may occur on greatly differing time scales, from one-time forcings such as volcanic explosions, to seasonal/annual effects such as

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date ...

, and on up to the millennia of ice ages. The institute's research combines analysis of comprehensive global datasets (derived from surface stations combined with satellite data for sea surface temperatures) with global models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes. Study of past climate change on Earth and of other planetary atmospheres provides an additional tool in assessing general understanding of the atmosphere and its evolution. GISS was established in May 1961 by Robert Jastrow to do basic research in space sciences in support of Goddard programs. Formally the institute was the New York City office of the GSFC Theoretical Division but was known as the Goddard Space Flight Center Institute for Space Studies or in some publications as simply the Institute for Space Studies. But even before it opened, the institute had been referred to in the press as the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. It was separated from the Theoretical Division in July 1962. Its offices were originally located in

The Interchurch Center The Interchurch Center is a 19-story limestone-clad office building located at 475 Riverside Drive and West 120th Street in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. It is the headquarters for the international humanitarian ministry Churc ...

, and the institute moved into Columbia's Armstrong Hall (formerly the Ostend apartments and subsequently the Oxford Residence Hotel) in April 1966. From 1981 to 2013, GISS was directed by James E. Hansen. In June 2014, Gavin A. Schmidt was named the institute's third director.

History of scientific research

In the 1960s, GISS was a frequent center for high-level scientific workshops, including the "History of the Earth’s Crust Symposium" in November 1966 which has been described as the meeting that gave birth to the idea of

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...

. At a GISS workshop in 1967, John Wheeler popularized the term " black hole" as a short-hand for 'gravitionally completely collapsed star', though the term was not coined there. In September 1974, at a seminal meeting led by Patrick Thaddeus at GISS with John Mather (his then post-doc) and others discussions began on the possibility of building a satellite to measure both the spectrum and possible spatial fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background. This led directly to the COBE satellite project and a

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

for Mather. GISS personnel were involved as instrument and science team scientists in multiple historic

solar system missions,

Mariner 5 Mariner 5 (Mariner Venus 1967) was a spacecraft of the Mariner program that carried a complement of experiments to probe Venus' atmosphere by radio occultation, measure the hydrogen Lyman-alpha (hard ultraviolet) spectrum, and sample the sola ...

to Venus,

Pioneer 10 ''Pioneer 10'' (originally designated Pioneer F) is an American space probe, launched in 1972 and weighing , that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, ''Pioneer 10'' became the first of five artificial objects to ach ...

and 11 to Jupiter and Saturn, the

Voyager program The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic interstellar probes, ''Voyager 1'' and ''Voyager 2''. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, to fly near t ...

, Pioneer Venus, Galileo to Jupiter, the unsuccessful

Mars Observer The ''Mars Observer'' spacecraft, also known as the ''Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter'', was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992, to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field. During the int ...

and Climate Orbiter, and Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.

Polarimetry Polarimetry is the measurement and interpretation of the polarization of transverse waves, most notably electromagnetic waves, such as radio or light waves. Typically polarimetry is done on electromagnetic waves that have traveled through or ...

has been a speciality of GISS since the Pioneer, Voyager, and Galileo missions, and has been adapted to Earth observing missions as well; notably the Glory mission in 2011 would have has the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS) led by GISS scientists had it reached orbit and the upcoming PACE mission (launch date expected to be Nov 2023), which will have two polarimeters on board.

Climate change research

A key objective of Goddard Institute for Space Studies research is prediction of climate change in the 21st century. The research combines paleogeological record, analysis of comprehensive global datasets (derived mainly from spacecraft observations), with global models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes. Climate science predictions are based substantially on historical analysis of Earth's paleoclimate (climate through geological ages), and the sea-level/ temperature/ carbon dioxide record. Changes in carbon dioxide associated with continental drift, and the decrease in volcanism as India arrived at the Asian continent, allowed temperatures to drop & Antarctic ice-sheets to form. This resulted in a 75m drop in sea level, allowing our present-day coastlines & habitats to form and stabilize. Global change studies at GISS are coordinated with research at other groups within the Earth Sciences Division, including the Laboratory for Atmospheres, Laboratory for Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences, and Earth Observing System science office.

Awards

GISS director James Hansen received the

Heinz Award The Heinz Awards are individual achievement honors given annually by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards each year recognize outstanding individuals for their innovative contributions in three areas: the Arts, the Economy and the Enviro ...

in 2001. In November 2004, climatologists Drew Shindell and Gavin Schmidt were named amongst

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

magazine's Top 50 Scientist award. One-time GISS post-doctoral scientist John C. Mather was years later awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

in 2006.

Alumni

Notable people who have worked at GISS and their periods of employment: *

W. David Arnett William David Arnett (born 1940) is a Regents Professor of Astrophysics at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, known for his research on supernova explosions, the formation of neutron stars or black holes by gravitational collapse, and ...

, postdoc *

Alastair G. W. Cameron Alastair G. W. (Graham Walter) Cameron (21 June 1925 – 3 October 2005) was an American-Canadian astrophysicist and space scientist who was an eminent staff member of the Astronomy department of Harvard University. He was one of the founders ...

(1961-1966) * Mark Cane (1966-1970, 1975–1976), programmer, postdoc * Hong-Yee Chiu (1961-1984) * Benjamin Cook (2001-) * Thomas M. Dame (1983-1984), postdoc * Anthony Del Genio (1979-2019) * Dilhan Eryurt (née Ezer) (1964-1966, 1969–1973), postdoc and staff scientist *

Rhodes Fairbridge Rhodes Whitmore Fairbridge (21 May 1914 – 8 November 2006) was an Australian geologist and expert on climate change. His father was Kingsley Fairbridge. Born in Pinjarra, Western Australia, Fairbridge graduated from Queen's University in Ont ...

(1955-2006) *

Inez Fung Inez Fung (; born April 11, 1949) is a professor of atmospheric science at the University of California, Berkeley, jointly appointed in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Managemen ...

(1986-1993) * James Hansen (1967-2014) * Robert Jastrow (1961-1981) * John Knox (1995-2001), postdoc * Kuo-Nan Liou (1970-1972), postdoc *

John McAfee John David McAfee ( ; 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British-American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States ...

(1968-1970), programmer * John C. Mather (1974-1976), postdoc * Michael I. Mishchenko (1992-2020) * Michael J. Prather (1985-1992) * William J. Quirk, postdoc * Cynthia E. Rosenzweig (1993-) * William B. Rossow (1979-2007) * Gavin Schmidt (1996-) * Stephen Schneider (1971-1972), postdoc * Drew Shindell (1995-2014) * Richard Somerville (1971-1974) * Richard Stothers (1961-2011) * Patrick Thaddeus (1966-1986)

In popular culture

* The institute is housed at the corner of West 112th St. and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in New York City in Columbia University's Armstrong Hall. The building also houses Tom's Restaurant, which was the exterior for the restaurant in '' Seinfeld'' and the subject of the Suzanne Vega song '' Tom's Diner.'' * WQED made a documentary in the 1960s "The Universe on a Scratch Pad" about the theoretical work being done at GISS.

References

External links

Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)
- Official Site
GISS Global Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP)
- Global Surface Temperature Data {{Coord, 40.80544, N, 73.96536, W, source:placeopedia, display=title 1961 establishments in New York City Goddard Space Flight Center Education in Manhattan Columbia University Space technology research institutes Aerospace research institutes Aviation research institutes Columbia University research institutes Environmental research institutes Broadway (Manhattan)