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Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

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Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
Born (1950-06-07) 7 June 1950 (age 74)
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Regensburg
AwardsGerman Environment Prize (2007)
Volvo Environment Prize (2011)
Blue Planet Prize (2017)
Scientific career
FieldsClimatology
InstitutionsPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
University of Potsdam

Hans Joachim "John" Schellnhuber (born 7 June 1950)[1][2] is a German atmospheric physicist, climatologist and founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and former chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).[3] Since 1 December 2023, Schellnhuber is the Director General of IIASA.[4]

Education

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Schellnhuber studied mathematics and physics, obtaining a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Regensburg in 1980,[5] followed in 1985 by habilitation (qualification for office) in theoretical physics at the University of Oldenburg. In 1981, he became a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, working across the corridor from its director Walter Kohn, who became one of his academic supervisors.[6]

Career

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Schellnhuber during the MSC 2019

Originally interested in solid state physics and quantum mechanics, Schellnhuber became drawn[when?] to complex systems and nonlinearity or chaos theory.[6] As a full professor for theoretical physics and then[when?] director at the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment at Oldenburg University, he was involved in analysing the structure of ocean currents.[7]

In 1991, he was called upon to create the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and became its director in 1993 – making it grow from zero to one of the world's most renowned climate research institutes with today[when?] more than 300 employees following an interdisciplinary approach.[8]

As early as 1995 Schellnhuber proposed the 2 °C guardrail for global warming which was adopted first by the German government and the European Union and then, following the Copenhagen accord in 2009, as a global target by governments worldwide.[9][10]

From 2001 to 2005 Schellnhuber served as research director of the Tyndall Centre in England and became a visiting professor at the University of Oxford.[11][12]

Schellnhuber has been professor at the University of Potsdam, Germany,[13] and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute in the US.[14]

As a long-standing member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[5] which was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Schellnhuber has been a coordinating lead author of the synthesis chapter of Working Group II of the IPCC's Third Assessment Report. He has warned of dire consequences of continued global warming[15] As an expert[16] on climatological tipping points, he is a public speaker on the subject.[15][17][18][19][20]

In 2017, Schellnhuber said that unless climate action is taken by 2020, the world "may be fatally wounded."[21]

Achievements

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Schellnhuber has helped create numerous iconic concepts such as the analysis of tipping elements in the climate system,[6][22][23] the burning embers,[24][25] and the budget approach for emissions.[26]

Honors

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In 2002, Schellnhuber received the Royal Society's Wolfson Research Merit Award[27] In 2004 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed him to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[28] In 2005, the National Academy of Sciences (US) appointed him as a member.[29] He was awarded the German Environment Prize in 2007. In that same year, he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.[30]

In 2011, he was the first German to receive the Volvo Environment Prize, which is the highest-ranking award in the field of environmental sciences worldwide.[31] He was honoured with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (first class) as well[32] and holds honorary doctorates from Copenhagen University[33] and Technische Universität Berlin.[34]

The German magazine Cicero in 2012 ranked him amongst the 500 most important German intellectuals.[35] In 2017, Schellnhuber was awarded the Blue Planet Prize of the Asahi Glass Foundation.[36]

Civic involvement and service

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As one of the leading climate scientists worldwide, he has been a consultant to the former President of the European Union Commission, José Manuel Barroso.[37] In 2007, he was appointed Chief Government Advisor on Climate and Related Issues during Germany's EU Council Presidency and G8 Presidency.[38]

In 2007, Schellnhuber started "A Nobel Cause – Nobel Laureate Symposium Series on Global Sustainability" in Potsdam, bringing together Nobel Laureates from all disciplines with leading sustainability scientists.[39] In 2009, this event took place in London and in 2011 in Stockholm, where the UN secretary-general's High Level Panel on Sustainability came to the meeting to receive a memorandum that was fed into the Rio+20 conference in 2012.[40]

Schellnhuber offers scientific insights to business leaders, as a member of the Climate Change Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank[41] and chair of the governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology's Climate Knowledge and Innovation Communities (EIT Climate KIC).[42] In 2012, he was the lead-author of a report commissioned by the World Bank[5] on possible impacts of a 4 degrees Celsius warming towards the end of the 21st century.[43] This report received a lot of attention worldwide.[44][45] That same year, Schellnhuber presented the keynote at the gala dinner that opened the high-level segment of the world climate summit COP18 in Doha, Qatar.[46] In the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNFCCC's boss Christiana Figueres, a few days later Schellnhuber signed an agreement with the Qatar Foundation to jointly create a Climate change research institute in Qatar – a remarkable step as the country's wealth for decades had been based on exporting fossil fuels.[47][48]

In 2013, Schellnhuber was one of 18 prominent international scientists to launch the Earth League, a global interdisciplinary alliance of leading research institutes that focus on Earth system analysis and sustainability science, including economy.[49] UN Security Council members Pakistan and UK asked him to speak at a meeting of the Council under the Arria Formula, the meeting at the UN headquarter in New York was attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.[50] In the runup of the world climate summit in Warsaw, Schellnhuber discussed possible ways forward with the president of Cop19, the Polish Minister of the Environment Marcin Korolec.[51] To advance the state of science, Schellnhuber initiated[when?] the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP) that involves more than 30 research teams from 12 countries.[52] In 2013, the scientific journal Nature called it the "first comprehensive global-impact project" – it aims at identifying robust insights as well as research gaps, based on a yet unprecedentedly broad comparison of computer simulations of future climate change impacts such as water scarcity, floodings, or yield changes.[53][54] In 2013, Schellnhuber's efforts resulted in the Impacts World Conference in Potsdam[55] followed by a special feature on first ISI-MIP results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Schellnhuber has been serving as chair of the Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) governing board, which is affiliated to the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).[56] This institution aims at fostering low-carbon entrepreneurship and innovation.

Schellnhuber signed the 2005 Potsdam Denkschrift calling for a change in thinking to enable sustainable development.[57]

Personal life

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He is married to Margret Boysen.[58]

Publications

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Schellnhuber has published more than 250 scientific papers and has authored, co-authored, or edited 50 books or book chapters.[59]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ [1] Archived 3 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Mossman, Kaspar (2008). "Profile of Hans Joachim Schellnhuber". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (6): 1783–1785. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.1783M. doi:10.1073/pnas.0800554105. PMC 2538840. PMID 18256180.
  3. ^ "WBGU: WBGU Council Members 2013–2016". Wbgu.de. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber appointed as IIASA Director General".
  5. ^ a b c "Curriculum at Forum: Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development". Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Kaspar Mossman (2008). "Profile of Hans Joachim Schellnhuber". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (6): 1783–1785. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.1783M. doi:10.1073/pnas.0800554105. PMC 2538840. PMID 18256180.
  7. ^ "WBGU: Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber". Wbgu.de. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Portrait of the Institute – PIK Research Portal". Pik-potsdam.de. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  9. ^ Hans Joachim Schellnhuber; et al., eds. (2006). Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change : Climatology and climate change. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521864718. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  10. ^ Meinshausen, Malte; Meinshausen, Nicolai; Hare, William; Raper, Sarah C. B.; Frieler, Katja; Knutti, Reto; Frame, David J.; Allen, Myles R. (2009). "Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 2 °C". Nature. 458 (7242): 1158–1162. Bibcode:2009Natur.458.1158M. doi:10.1038/nature08017. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 19407799. S2CID 4342402.
  11. ^ "Oxford University Gazette, 24 November 2005: Notices". Ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 27 April 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  12. ^ "Environmental Change Institute (ECI) – Oxford University". Eci.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  13. ^ "PULS – Potsdamer Universitätslehr- und Studienorganisationsportal – Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber" (in German). Puls.uni-potsdam.de. 23 December 2013. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  14. ^ Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber. "Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber | Santa Fe Institute". Santafe.edu. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  15. ^ a b Stephen Leahy (9 October 2009). "CLIMATE CHANGE: Four Degrees of Devastation". UXBRIDGE, Canada: IPS. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  16. ^ Mossman, Kaspar (12 February 2008). "Profile of Hans Joachim Schellnhuber". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (6): 1783–1785. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.1783M. doi:10.1073/pnas.0800554105. PMC 2538840. PMID 18256180.
  17. ^ "Timothy M. Lenton & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber". ScienceWatch.com. 12 February 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  18. ^ Kanter, James (13 March 2009). "Scientist: Warming Could Cut Population to 1 Billion". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  19. ^ "Professor Schellnhuber of the Potsdam Institute talks pre industrial carbon levels for safe climate". Beyond Zero Emissions. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  20. ^ "German Scientist Warns Climate Change Accelerating | Germany". Dw-world.de. 29 December 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  21. ^ McGrath, Matt (24 July 2019). "Twelve years to save Earth? Make that 18 months". BBC News.
  22. ^ Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (2009). "Tipping elements in the Earth System". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (49): 20561–20563. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10620561S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0911106106. PMC 2791592. PMID 19995979.
  23. ^ Kaspar Mossman (2008). "Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (6): 1786–1793. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.1786L. doi:10.1073/pnas.0705414105. PMC 2538841. PMID 18258748.
  24. ^ Timothy M. Lenton & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (22 November 2007). "Tipping the scales". Nature Reports Climate Change. 1 (712). Nature: 97–98. Bibcode:2007NatCC...1...97L. doi:10.1038/climate.2007.65.
  25. ^ Smith, JB; Schneider, SH; Oppenheimer, M; et al. (March 2009). "Assessing dangerous climate change through an update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "reasons for concern"". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (11): 4133–4137. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106.4133S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0812355106. PMC 2648893. PMID 19251662. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  26. ^ "WBGU: 2009-09-01 Press Release" (Press release). Wbgu.de. 1 September 2009. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  27. ^ "New UEA professor awarded top science honour". Uea.ac.uk. 4 November 2002. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
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  29. ^ "National Academy of Sciences". Nasonline.org. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  30. ^ "List of Members". www.leopoldina.org. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  31. ^ "Volvo Environment Prize – Laureate 2011". Environment-prize.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  32. ^ "Bundesverdienstkreuz für Klimaforscher Hans Joachim Schellnhuber und das Vogelschützer-Ehepaar Litzbarski" (in German). Stk.brandenburg.de. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  33. ^ "Nyheder – Københavns Universitet". Nat.ku.dk. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  34. ^ "Stabsstelle Presse, Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Alumni : Medieninformation Nr. 153/2012" (in German). Pressestelle.tu-berlin.de. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  35. ^ "Cicero Ranking 2012 – Günter Grass und Alice Schwarzer spitze | Cicero Online" (in German). Cicero. 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  36. ^ "2017 Blue Planet Prize Commemorative Lectures". af-info.or.jp. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  37. ^ "Press release – World renowned experts to advise President Barroso on energy and climate change" (Press release). Europa.eu. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  38. ^ "G8 Summit 2007 Heiligendamm – Climate change experts to advise German government". G-8.de. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  39. ^ "Welcome to the Nobel Cause Symposium Series – Nobel Cause Symposium". Nobel-cause.de. Archived from the original on 29 January 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  40. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  41. ^ "Home – Deutsche Bank Responsibility". Banking-on-green.com. 20 December 2013. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
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  44. ^ "World Bank Climate Change Report Says 'Turn Down The Heat' On Warming Planet". Huffington Post. 18 November 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  45. ^ "World Bank warns of climate change disaster – Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 19 November 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
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  47. ^ Vidal, John (6 December 2012). "Green thinking takes root in midst of desert in Doha climate talks | John Vidal | Global development". theguardian.com. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  48. ^ "Qatar to set up climate centre". Gulf Times. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  49. ^ "Miniweb Earth League Startseite". Hzg.de. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  50. ^ Krause, Flavia (15 February 2013). "Climate Change's Links to Conflict Draws UN Attention". Bloomberg. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  51. ^ ""So ein totaler Quatsch!"..." Die Zeit (in German). 11 July 2013. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  52. ^ "Recognizing the Elephant in the Room: Future Climate Impacts across Sectors" (Press release). PIK Research Portal. 16 December 2013.
  53. ^ Schiermeier, Quirin (31 December 2013). "Water risk as world warms". Nature. 505 (7481): 10–11. Bibcode:2014Natur.505...10S. doi:10.1038/505010a. PMID 24380936.
  54. ^ Nafeez Ahmed (17 December 2013). "'Whole world' at risk from simultaneous droughts, famines, epidemics: scientists". theguardian.com.
  55. ^ "Impacts World 2013 – International Conference on Climate Change Effects, Potsdam, 27–30 May". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  56. ^ "Governing Board :John Schellnhuber, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research". Climate-KIC. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  57. ^ "Potsdam Denkschrift - Potsdam Manifesto 2005". 17 July 2011. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  58. ^ "Curriculum Vitae – PIK Research Portal". Pik-potsdam.de. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  59. ^ "Short Biography – PIK Research Portal". Pik-potsdam.de. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  60. ^ "Turn Down the Heat – Why a 4 °C Warmer World Must be Avoided. A Report commissioned by The World Bank".
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