Nationality British Name John Houghton | Role Scientist Fields Atmospheric physics | |
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Born 30 December 1931 (age 92)
Dyserth ( 1931-12-30 ) Institutions University of Oxford
Met Office Alma mater Jesus College, Oxford (B.A., 1951, M.A, 1955, PhD, 1955) Notable awards The Chree Medal and Prize (1979)
Japan Prize (2006)
Albert Einstein World Award of Science (2009) Education Jesus College, Oxford (1955) Awards Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Albert Einstein World Award of Science Books Global Warming: The Com, physics of atmospheres, The Search for God: Can Scie, Remote sounding of atmosp, Does God Play Dice?: A Look at | ||
John T. Houghton
Sir John Theodore Houghton (born 30 December 1931) is a Welsh scientist who was the co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group. He was the lead editor of first three IPCC reports. He was professor in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford, former Director General at the Met Office and founder of the Hadley Centre.
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He is the president of the John Ray Initiative, an organisation "connecting Environment, Science and Christianity", where he has compared the stewardship of the Earth, to the stewardship of the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve. He is a founder member of the International Society for Science and Religion. He is also the current president of the Victoria Institute.
Biography
Born in Dyserth he moved to Rhyl at the age of two and attended Rhyl Grammar School where he discovered his interest in science. He continued his education at Jesus College, Oxford, gaining an MA (Oxon), MPhil and DPhil. He was brought up, in Wales, as an evangelical Christian by devout Christian parents and has remained a strong Christian throughout his life and sees science and Christianity as strengthening each other and believes strongly in the connection between Christianity and environmentalism. Houghton's evangelical Christianity combined with his scientific background has made him a significant voice in evangelical Christian circles. Winning the support of Richard Cizik, one of the most prominent Evangelical lobbyists in the United States, is a notable example of how Houghton has had a significant effect. He is currently an elder at Aberdovey Presbyterian Church.
Houghton is currently Honorary Scientist of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research at the Met Office; Honorary Scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; a Trustee of the Shell Foundation; Chairman of the John Ray Initiative and in 2013 was announced as an Advisory Board member for Sure Chill Technology.
Previously Sir John was
During the 1970s he was also Principal Investigator for Space Experiments on NASA Spacecraft.
He moved back to Wales and currently lives in Aberdyfi. In 2007 he criticised the controversial documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle for its inaccuracies.
Awards and honours
He has received Honorary Doctorates of Science from the Universities of Wales (1991), Stirling (1992), East Anglia (1993), Leeds (1995), Heriot-Watt (1996), Greenwich (1997), Glamorgan (1998), Reading (1999), Birmingham (2000), Gloucestershire (2001), Hull (2002) and Dalhousie (2010). He is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and of University of Wales, Lampeter and is also a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Publications
His publications include
Misquotation
In a November 2006 article in Australia's The Daily Telegraph, journalist Piers Akerman quoted Houghton as saying "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen", attributing the quotation to his 1994 book Global Warming, The Complete Briefing. This has since been quoted by many sceptics, including Benny Peiser and Christopher Monckton, and is listed at the top of the front page of Christopher Booker's The Real Global Warming Disaster. However, the quotation does not appear in any edition of Houghton's book. Houghton has never said any such thing and believes the opposite. The publishers of The Real Global Warming Disaster, The Continuum International Publishing Group, have apologised for the reference to that quotation, confirmed (in addition to Booker's confirmation) that it will not be repeated, and have agreed to place a corrigendum in any further copies of the book. In an article which appeared in The Sunday Telegraph on 20 February 2010, Christopher Booker purported to correct the misquotation contained in The Real Global Warming Disaster but this article contained yet further inaccuracies. As a result, Houghton referred the matter to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC Reference 101959). Following the PCC's involvement, The Sunday Telegraph published on 15 August 2010 a letter of correction by Houghton stating his true position. An article supportive of Houghton also appears in the edition of 21 May 2010 of New Scientist.
The correct quotation was, "If we want a good environmental policy in the future we'll have to have a disaster. It's like safety on public transport. The only way humans will act is if there's been an accident."