Stockholm university

Bert Bolin—founder of the climate panel and world-leading scientist

Prominent climate researcher, co-founder of the UN's climate panel IPCC, and chairman of several international organizations in environmental research – for 30 years, Bert Bolin was a professor of meteorology at Stockholm University. Early on in his career, he led the launch of Sweden's first rocket, Plutnik.

Bert Bolin was born in Nyköping in 1925 and became interested in meteorology at an early age. At the age of 25, he spent a year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he worked with leading researchers to develop the first computerized weather forecast. To help them, they had ENIAC, the world's first supercomputer. The work aimed, among other things, to produce numerical weather forecasts, i.e. advanced mathematical calculations of weather.

 

 

Shortly after his doctorate in 1956, Bert Bolin, inspired by the world-leading Swedish atmosphere researcher Carl-Gustaf Rossby, began working with atmospheric chemistry and the cycles in nature. His work led to fundamental advances in understanding the carbon dioxide cycle - not only in the atmosphere but also in the oceans and the terrestrial biosphere. Bert Bolin was one of the key figures in the establishment of global biogeochemistry as a science.

 

A space research pioneer

Parallel to these scientific studies, Bert Bolin was one of the members of the Swedish Committee for Space Research, formed in 1959, and a driving force in developing experiments in this relatively new research area for Sweden. Sweden's first space rocket was two meters long, reached a height of 80 km and would, among other things, measure wind conditions. The launch of the rocket, also known as Plutnik, took place outside Jokkmokk on 14 August 1961 and Bert Bolin led the project. The event marked the start of the research conducted since 1966 at the Esrange space base outside Kiruna.

Bert Bolin also played a leading role in establishing and running many international research organizations. As early as 1963, he worked to establish an international cooperation, where satellite tools were made available to study the general circulation of the atmosphere and also to develop new methods for weather forecasts. In 1964, this work led to the formation of the Committee on Atmospheric Sciences of the International Council for Science (ICSU), and Bert Bolin became its first chairman.

 

Outstanding research

Bert Bolin also played a leading role in several other international environmental research organizations that emerged - including as chairman of the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP), founded in 1967. It brought together researchers from around the world, a feat not entirely uncomplicated during the Cold War. In 1980, the success of the international field experiments with model testing and development led to GARP becoming the World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

 

Key role in the establishment of the IPCC

The contribution Bert Bolin has become best known for is perhaps that he was one of the founders of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC. The organization was founded in 1988, and he was its chairman until 1997.

Through its systematic and very detailed evaluations of the state of knowledge in the climate field, the IPCC has come to play a decisive role as a basis for political decisions on international agreements.

In 2007, the IPCC, along with former US Vice President Al Gore, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The award ceremony took place in Oslo, and it was intended for Bert Bolin to receive it from the IPCC, but he could not attend due to health reasons. However, in connection to Al Gore's address in the Swedish Parliament only days after the award ceremony in Oslo, Bert Bolin was present, and Al Gore thanked him for his efforts for the climate.

Read more about the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize here

Bert Bolin received awards such as the Tyler Prize, the Blue Planet Prize and the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal - the highest award by the American Meteorological Society.

 

Center for Climate Research and Climate Lecture

From 1961 until his retirement in 1990, Bert Bolin was Professor of Meteorology at Stockholm University. Even at the age of 80, he continued to teach students at the university. He was an esteemed colleague and mentor to many future researchers who have later become leaders in their respective fields of study.

In 2006, the Bolin Center for Climate Research was established by Stockholm University, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). The center is an interdisciplinary consortium of over 400 researchers in Sweden who conduct research and postgraduate education related to the earth's climate.

In honour of Professor Bert Bolin, the Faculty of Science at Stockholm University founded the annual Bert Bolin climate lecture in 2008, shortly after Bert Bolin had passed away. Every year, a prominent Bert Bolin climate lecturer is invited to Stockholm to give a popular science lecture and a science seminar at the Bolin Center for Climate Research.

Read more about the center and the lectures here

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