George Kukla (born ''Jiří Kukla''; March 14, 1930 – May 31, 2014) was a

climatologist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

who was senior research scientist at the

Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is a research, research institution specializing in the Earth science and climate change. Though part of Columbia University, it is located on a separate closed campus in Palisades, New York. The obs ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Kukla was a member of the

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Science ...

prior to emigrating to the US, and a pioneer in the field of astronomical

climate forcing Radiative forcing (or climate forcing) is a concept used to quantify a change to the Earth's energy budget, balance of energy flowing through a planetary atmosphere. Various factors contribute to this change in energy balance, such as concentration ...

. In 1972 he became a central figure in convincing the United States government to take the dangers of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

seriously. Kukla and geologist, Robley Matthews of Brown University, convened a historic conference, themed: "The Present Interglacial: How and When will it End?" Kukla and Matthews then highlighted the dangers of global cooling in ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' magazine and, to President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

. The Nixon administration reacted swiftly to their letter, which described calamities such as killer frosts, lower food production and floods, to come. By February 1973, the State Department had established a Panel on the Present Interglacial, which advised Drs. Kukla and Matthews that it "was seized of the matter" and numerous other government agencies were soon included. In the 1980's, Kukla published evidence of a global warming trend in the atmosphere due to

man-made climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

. Kukla was co-author of a chapter in the book ''Natural Climate Variability on Decade-to-Century Time Scales'' published by the National Research Council. Kukla believed all glacial periods in Earth's history began with global warming (understood as an increase of area-weighted average global mean temperature). He believed Earth's recent warming is mostly natural and will ultimately lead to a new ice age. He became a recipient of the

Milutin Milankovic Medal The Milutin Milankovic Medal is an annual award in Earth science presented by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The award was introduced in 1993 by the European Geophysical Society (EGS). After a merger with the European Union of Geosciences ...

with

John Imbrie John Imbrie (July 4, 1925 – May 13, 2016) was an American paleoceanographer best known for his work on the theory of ice ages. He was the grandson of William Imbrie, an American missionary to Japan. After serving with the 10th Mountain ...

in 2003.

References

External links

"Forecast: Unsettled weather ahead"
''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. January 31, 1977.
"Scientist refutes notion of recent climate change as 'uniquely benign' - sees evidence of approaching ice age despite global warming"
''Earth Institute News'', 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kukla, George Columbia University faculty Paleoclimatologists Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States 1930 births 2014 deaths Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory people