al-mofhariz

One of the most important contributors to our understanding of climate change, Earth scientist Wallace Broecker lectures on our increasingly hot planet —and what we can do about it. “The Earth’s climate system is an angry beast ,” says Dr. Broecker. “And we’re poking it by adding greenhouse gases.” Every day, 60 to 70 million metric tons of carbon dioxide are dumped into the atmosphere. And even if a well-meaning fairy godmother were to turn all the world’s citizens into energy-saving paragons overnight, the resulting reduction in CO2 emissions could not stop the great warming tide headed our way. The Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, a longtime researcher at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory , and author of the just-released book Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Change Reveals about the Current Threat—And How to Counter It, Dr. Broecker has been investigating the link between ocean chemistry and global warming for more than 40 years.

David Engber explores this question in a three-part series for Slate magazine that may be of interest to FHSA members.  Engber traces the manufacture of uncertainty about science through a number of examples, ranging from intelligent design, industry-sponsored research, and environmental activism.  He connects this trend to Richard Hofstadter's discussion of the "paranoid style in American politics."   Sage Ross has an interesting assessment of moderate versus immoderate doubt about science from a history of science perspective.  

Hofstra University announces an interdisciplinary conference titled, "Darwin's Reach: A Celebration of Darwin's Legacy across Academic Disciplines," to be held March 12-14, 2009.  Historians of science and those working in all areas of academic inquiry related to Darwin and evolution are invited to submit abstracts.  200-word abstracts are requested for a June 16, 2008 deadline.  The full call for papers, with further information and instructions, is available at Hofstra's event website .  Hofstra University is in Hempstead, New York, 20 miles east of Manhattan.

The history of American science as a field has certainly grown by leaps and bounds since the 1970s, but how much has that history filtered into the public consciousness?  I've been pondering this question because Isaac Newton just came to my small town as part of his latest FMA Live tour.  Who knew that "Newt" was so cool?  His website is great fun, including a brief history of Newton's career that ends with "Thanks, Newt.  Props to you for being the Man Behind the Motion!"  This program is sponsored by Honeywell and is aimed at getting middle-schoolers excited about science.  My question, then, for members of FHSA, is which American scientist should be next to go on tour?  Ben Franklin?  Rachel Carson? Alexander Dallas Bache? T.H. Morgan? Maria Mitchell?