John Abraham (engineer)

Last updated
John P. Abraham
Alma materPh.D. 2002, Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota [1]
Known for Global warming debate (Climate Science Rapid Response Team)
Awards NCSE Friend of the Planet Award [2]
Scientific career
Fields Thermodynamics, heat flow, numerical simulation, energy
InstitutionsLos Alamos National Laboratory
University of St. Thomas School of Engineering, Minnesota (Associate Prof.) [1]
Thesis A comprehensive experimental, analytical, and numerical investigation of the modes of heat transfer in an electrically heated oven  (2002)
Website http://www.stthomas.edu/engineering/faculty/john-p-abraham.html

John P. Abraham is a professor of thermal sciences at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering, Minnesota in the United States of America.

Contents

In 2009 he started to analyze misrepresentations being used to promote climate change denial, and from 2010 became a prominent defender of science in the global warming controversy. In that year, he helped to launch the Climate Science Rapid Response Team.

Career

Abraham is professor of thermal science (thermodynamics) and fluid mechanics at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering, Minnesota. [1] [3] His area of research includes thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow, numerical simulation, and energy. After gaining his doctorate at the University of Minnesota in 2002, he joined St. Thomas as an adjunct instructor, later becoming a full-time member of the faculty. He has published over 200 papers in journals and conferences, and since 1997 has also been an engineering consultant working on industrial research in aerospace, biomedical, energy and manufacturing industries. He works on clean and renewable wind and solar projects in the developing world, and has also produced numerous books, such as a 2014 text on small-scale wind power [4] and a 2010 groundbreaking text on laminar-to-turbulent fluid flow. [5] [6] [7]

Refutation of climate change denial

Abraham felt it was necessary to respond to a talk given to the Minnesota Free Market Institute in October 2009 by a well-known denier of human-caused global warming, [8] Christopher Monckton. He thought "this guy is a great speaker and he is very convincing. If I didn’t know the science, I would believe him. Frankly, the nonscientists in the audience didn’t have a chance. They had no way of knowing what he said was not true. I felt Monckton took advantage of them and he knew he was taking advantage of them." In the following months he carried out research, contacting scientists cited by Monckton, and in late May 2010, he posted online an 83-minute video rebutting Monckton's statements. This attracted little attention at first, until it was highlighted by an article George Monbiot published in The Guardian . [6] [9] [10]

Abraham's presentation and the response from Monckton [11] subsequently received world-wide attention. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] More recently, Abraham and a number of colleagues including Michael E. Mann submitted a document to the United States Congress which set out to refute nine errors in Christopher Monckton's May 6, 2010, testimony. [18] [19] [20] [21]

In November 2010, Abraham (and two colleagues, Scott Mandia and Ray Weymann) launched the Climate Science Rapid Response Team, to provide rapid, high-quality scientific information to the media and government decision-makers. The intention of this group is to enable scientists to share their work directly with the general public. This effort has been covered by many media outlets. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] The effort has an online page for media to submit their questions. [34]

Abraham estimated early in 2012 that since beginning his rebuttal he had put around 1,000 unpaid hours into work on climate change and the controversy. He has given numerous speeches to publicize global warming issues, but does not accept funding for climate research or ask for an honorarium for speeches: if payment is given he asks that it goes to St. Thomas or to charity. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global warming controversy</span> Political debate over global warming

The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring, how much has occurred in modern times, what has caused it, what its effects will be, whether any action can or should be taken to curb it, and if so what that action should be. In the scientific literature, there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view, though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions, and some have tried to persuade the public that climate change is not happening, or if the climate is changing it is not because of human influence, attempting to sow doubt in the scientific consensus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Bellamy</span> English professor, botanist, author, broadcaster and environmental campaigner

David James Bellamy was an English botanist, television presenter, author and environmental campaigner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Houghton (physicist)</span> Welsh physicist (1931–2020)

Sir John Theodore Houghton was a Welsh atmospheric physicist who was the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore. 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.

Ian Rutherford Plimer is an Australian geologist and professor emeritus at the University of Melbourne. He rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has been criticised by climate scientists for misinterpreting data and spreading misinformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Romm</span> American writer and editor (born 1960)

Joseph J. Romm is an American author, editor, physicist and climate expert, who advocates reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming and increasing energy security through energy efficiency, green energy technologies and green transportation technologies. Romm is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2009, Rolling Stone magazine named Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America", and Time magazine named him one of its "Heroes of the Environment (2009)", calling him "The Web's most influential climate-change blogger".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley</span> British peer (born 1952)

Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley is a British public speaker and hereditary peer. He is known for his work as a journalist, Conservative political advisor, UKIP political candidate, and for his invention of the mathematical puzzle Eternity.

<i>The Great Global Warming Swindle</i> British TV series or program

The Great Global Warming Swindle is a 2007 British polemical documentary film directed by Martin Durkin. The film denies the scientific consensus about the reality and causes of climate change, justifying this by suggesting that climatology is influenced by funding and political factors. The program was formally criticised by Ofcom, the UK broadcasting regulatory agency, which ruled the film failed to uphold due impartiality and upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King, who appeared in the film.

Martin Richard Durkin is an English television producer and director who has been commissioned by Britain's Channel 4.

Climate change conspiracy theories assert that the scientific consensus on global warming is based on conspiracies to produce manipulated data or suppress dissent. It is one of a number of tactics used in climate change denial to attempt to manufacture political and public controversy disputing this consensus. Conspiracy theorists typically allege that, through worldwide acts of professional and criminal misconduct, the science behind global warming and climate change has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syun-Ichi Akasofu</span> Geophysicist and climatologist

Syun-Ichi Akasofu is the founding director of the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), serving in that position from the center's establishment in 1998 until January 2007. Previously he had been director of the university's Geophysical Institute from 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Delingpole</span> English writer

James Mark Court Delingpole is an English writer, journalist, and columnist who has written for a number of publications, including the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Spectator. He is a former executive editor for Breitbart London, and has published several novels and four political books. He describes himself as a libertarian conservative. He has frequently published articles promoting climate change denial and expressing opposition to wind power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate change denial</span> Denial of the scientific consensus on climate change

Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or unwarranted doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions. Many who deny, dismiss, or hold unwarranted doubt about the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming self-label as "climate change skeptics", which several scientists have noted is an inaccurate description. Climate change denial can also be implicit when individuals or social groups accept the science but fail to come to terms with it or to translate their acceptance into action. Several social science studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denial or denialism, pseudoscience, or propaganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Watts (blogger)</span> American blogger (born 1958)

Willard Anthony Watts is an American blogger who runs Watts Up With That?, a popular climate change denial blog that opposes the scientific consensus on climate change. A former television meteorologist and current radio meteorologist, he is also founder of the Surface Stations project, a volunteer initiative to document the condition of U.S. weather stations. The Heartland Institute helped fund some of Watts' projects, including publishing a report on the Surface Stations project, and has invited him to be a paid speaker at its International Conference on Climate Change from 2008 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeSmog</span> Blog focusing on topics related to global warming

DeSmog, founded in January 2006, is a journalistic and activist website that focuses on topics related to climate change. The site was founded, originally in blog format, by James Hoggan, president of a public relations firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate crisis</span> Term used to refer to anthropogenic climate change

Climate crisis is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. This term and the term climate emergency have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity and the planet, and to urge aggressive climate change mitigation. In the scientific journal BioScience, a January 2020 article, endorsed by over 11,000 scientists worldwide, stated that "the climate crisis has arrived" and that an "immense increase of scale in endeavors to conserve our biosphere is needed to avoid untold suffering due to the climate crisis."

The Climatic Research Unit email controversy began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thousands of emails and computer files to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change.

Watts Up With That? (WUWT) is a blog promoting climate change denial that was created by Anthony Watts in 2006.

Scott A. Mandia is professor of Earth and space sciences and assistant chair of the Physical Sciences Department at Suffolk County Community College, Long Island, New York, USA. He has been teaching introductory meteorology and climatology courses for 28 years. In 1997, he won the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The Climate Science Rapid Response Team is a service to provide accurate information on climate science in response to media and government queries, by matching members of the media and government with questions, to the working climate scientists best able to answer. "Nearly all of [the participating climate scientists] are members of University faculties in departments involving some aspect of climate science or in government laboratories, both in the US and abroad."

Skeptical Science is a climate science blog and information resource created in 2007 by Australian former cartoonist and web developer, John Cook, who received a PhD degree in cognitive science in 2016. In addition to publishing articles on current events relating to climate science and climate policy, the site maintains a database of articles analyzing the merit of arguments put forth by those who oppose the mainstream scientific opinion on climate change.

References

  1. 1 2 3 University of St. Thomas : School of Engineering : John P. Abraham, Ph.D Archived May 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "Friend of the Planet Awards". National Center for Science Education. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  3. ↑ University of St. Thomas : School of Engineering Archived January 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Abraham, J. P. (2014). Small-scale wind power : design, analysis, and environmental impacts. Brian Plourde. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN   978-1-60650-485-7. OCLC   1100883111.
  5. ↑ John P. Abraham, University of St. Thomas, MN Archived June 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  6. 1 2 3 Winterer, Jim (Winter 2012). "John Abraham Takes a Stand". St. Thomas Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  7. ↑ Abraham, J P. "Modeling Internal Flows by an Extended Menter Transition Model". Archived from the original on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  8. ↑ Michael E. Mann: The Hockey-Stick and the Climate Wars. Columbia University Press, 2012, p. 71.
  9. ↑ Abraham presentation Archived August 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Abraham, John (3 June 2010). "Monckton takes scientist to brink of madness at climate change talk". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010.
    George Monbiot (3 June 2010), "Viscount Monckton, another fallen idol of climate denial/Professor John Abraham's withering scrutiny reveals how the gurus of climate scepticism repeat a pattern of manipulation", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 3 June 2010
  11. ↑ Monckton's response to John Abraham (PDF)
  12. ↑ George Monbiot (14 July 2010), "Monckton's response to John Abraham is magnificently bonkers/Monckton fails to provide a convincing refutation of Abraham's criticisms but does throw a great deal of dust into the air", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 17 July 2010
  13. ↑ Casey Selix (Jul 19, 2010), St. Thomas Prof. John Abraham in royal smackdown with global-warming denier Christopher Monckton, MinnPost.com, archived from the original on January 12, 2011
  14. ↑ Bill McAuliffe (July 22, 2010), Climate discussion heats up on the Web/A St. Thomas professor's response to a British climate change skeptic has bloggers and others all fired up, Star Tribune, archived from the original on July 26, 2010, retrieved 2010-10-19
  15. ↑ UST in the news « Bulletin Today Archived March 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ Monckton tries to censor John Abraham Archived July 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ MN professor eviscerates Monckton in must-see video « Climate Progress Archived June 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ Climate scientists eviscerate Lord Monckton’s attempt to disinform the U.S. Congress « Climate Progress Archived September 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  19. ↑ Leo Hickman (21 September 2010), "'Chemical nonsense': Leading scientists refute Lord Monckton's attack on climate science", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 22 September 2010
  20. ↑ Climate scientists respond to Monckton's misinformation Archived September 24, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ "Climate scientists debunk prominent contrarian Christopher Monckton's congressional testimony" (PDF). Skeptical Science. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  22. ↑ Banerjee, Neela (8 November 2010). "Climate scientists plan campaign against global warming skeptics". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2011.
  23. ↑ Abraham, John (8 November 2010). "Scientists have a duty to engage with the public on climate change". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010.
  24. ↑ Scientists agree that when the climate needs them, they'll speak up | Commentary | Minnesota Public Radio News Archived March 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ Climate scientists prepare to take the fight to skeptical politicians | StarTribune.com Archived March 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  26. ↑ UST in the news « Bulletin Today Archived March 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  27. ↑ Corner, Adam (23 November 2010). "Climate change scepticism is about more than just science". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010.
  28. ↑ Goldenberg, Suzanne (22 November 2010). "US climate scientists fight back after year of scepticism". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010.
  29. ↑ Richard Littlemore | Scientists throw mainstream media a lifeline Archived January 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  30. ↑ Climate rapid response communications team gears up « Climate Progress Archived February 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  31. ↑ Climate Change: The Next Generation: John Abraham, Ray Weymann and Scott Mandia launch Climate Science Rapid Response Team (CSRRT) website for inquiries concerning the science... Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ↑ November « 2010 « Global Warming: Man or Myth? Archived January 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  33. ↑ John Abraham and Scott Mandia - Climate Science Strikes Back | Point of Inquiry Archived January 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  34. ↑ Climate Science Rapid Response Matchmakers (CSRRT) Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.