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“The greatest disturbances of which we are aware are
those now being introduced by man himself. Since his
tampering with the biological and geochemical balances
may ultimately prove injurious — even fatal — to himself,
he must understand them better than today.”
Bert Bolin. “The Carbon Cycle.”
Scientific American, September 1970
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NATURE
Vol 451
7 February 2008
OBITUARY
Bert Bolin (1925-2008)
Pioneering climate scientist and communicator.
As the first chair of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), and one of the first
scientists to understand the environmental impact
of carbon dioxide produced by human activities,
Bert Bolin left an indelible mark. A pioneer of
climate science, he died in Stockholm on 30
December 2007, aged 82.
Bolin was born in Nyköping, Sweden, on 15 May
1925. He completed his PhD at the University of
Stockholm in 1956, and was within five years
professor of meteorology there – a post he held
until his retirement in 1990. During that time,
he published more than 160 papers related to the
meteorology and chemistry of the atmosphere,
contributing to an improved understanding of
numerical weather models and acid deposition.