The Lord Oxburgh | |
---|---|
Born | 2 November 1934 |
Alma mater | University College, Oxford Princeton University |
Spouse(s) | Ursula, Lady Oxburgh |
Children | 3 |
Awards | Bigsby Medal (1979) |
Scientific career | |
Thesis | Geology of the eastern Carabobo area, Venezuela (1960) |
Doctoral advisor | Harry Hammond Hess |
Ernest Ronald Oxburgh, Baron Oxburgh (born 2 November 1934) is an English geologist, geophysicist and politician. [1] Lord Oxburgh is well known for his work as a public advocate in both academia and the business world in addressing the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and develop alternative energy sources [2] as well as his negative views on the consequences of current oil consumption.
Oxburgh was born in Liverpool on 2 November 1934. He remained there with his family throughout World War II, despite Luftwaffe air raids. He attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys from 1942 to 1950. He is a graduate of University College, Oxford and Princeton University (PhD) (1960) where he worked on the emerging theory of plate tectonics [3] with the famous geologist Harry Hammond Hess.
Oxburgh has taught geology and geophysics at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. At Cambridge he was Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology, head of the Department of Earth Sciences and President of Queens' College. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford, Caltech, and Cornell. From 1988 to 1993, Lord Oxburgh was chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence, and Rector of Imperial College London from 1993 to 2000. [4] He was a member of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education that published an influential report in 1997. [5]
During 2004–05 Oxburgh was a non-executive chairman of Shell, the UK arm of Royal Dutch Shell. His tenure was remarkable in that while chairing a fossil fuels giant he expressed his "fears for the planet" because of climate change, sought new energy sources, and urged the global community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [6]
Lord Oxburgh was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Science and Engineering Research Council (Singapore), as of 1 January 2002, and is a member of the International Academic Advisory Panel of Singapore and the University Grants Committee (Hong Kong). [7] He is honorary president of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, [8] chairman of Falck Renewables, a wind energy firm, [9] an advisor to Climate Change Capital. He was chairman of D1 Oils, plc, a biodiesel producer, in 2007, and a director of GLOBE, the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment. [2]
In March 2010, he was appointed as the chair of an inquiry into the research conducted by the Climatic Research Unit following the Climatic Research Unit hacking incident. [10] The report, [11] released 14 April 2010, found that "...work has been carried out with integrity, and that allegations of deliberate misrepresentation and unjustified selection of data are not valid." Critics asserted Oxburgh's ties with businesses that stood to profit from the decision created a conflict of interest. [12] [13] The University of East Anglia did not see any conflict of interest, [14] stating,
"The choice of scientists is sure to be the subject of discussion, and experience would suggest that it is impossible to find a group of eminent scientists to look at this issue who are acceptable to every interest group which has expressed a view in the last few months. Similarly it is unlikely that a group of people who have the necessary experience to assess the science, but have formed no view of their own on global warming, could be found." [15]
While at Princeton University, Oxburgh was joined by his fiancée, Ursula, whom he married in the university chapel. They have three children. [16] An outdoorsman, Oxburgh enjoyed orienteering and running marathons until knee surgery limited him to mountain hikes with his wife. [1]
Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, was a British geographer, Royal Air Force officer and Labour Party politician.
Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and Labour peer.
William Douglas Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk is a former senior member of the Scottish judiciary. He formerly served as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session, and was an additional Lord of Appeal in the House of Lords prior to the transfer of its judicial functions to the Supreme Court.
Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford was an Australian scientist who was Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, President of the Royal Society, and a professor at the University of Sydney and Princeton University. He held joint professorships at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London. He was also a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 2001 until his retirement in 2017.
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild,, was a British peer, investment banker and member of the Rothschild banking family. Rothschild held important roles in business and British public life, and was active in charitable and philanthropic areas.
Edmund John Phillip Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley, is a British businessman.
Bhikhu Chotalal Parekh is a British political theorist, academic, and life peer. He is a Labour Party member of the House of Lords. He was Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull from 1982 to 2001, and Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Westminster from 2001 to 2009. He served as president of the Academy of Social Sciences from 2003 to 2008.
Robert Haldane Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin, is a British businessman and former Governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Smith was knighted in 1999, appointed to the House of Lords as an independent crossbench peer in 2008, and appointed Knight of the Thistle in the 2014 New Year Honours. He was also appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2016.
Jonathan Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell is a British businessman and academic who was Chairman of the Financial Services Authority during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession, serving from September 2008 until its abolition in March 2013. He is a former chairman of the Pensions Commission and the Committee on Climate Change, as well as a former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry. He has described himself in a BBC HARDtalk interview with Stephen Sackur as a 'technocrat'.
Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE), and 2010 Professor of Collège de France. He was President of the British Academy from 2013 to 2017, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014.
John Olav Kerr, Baron Kerr of Kinlochard is a British former diplomat and civil servant, and is a crossbench member of the House of Lords. He was a member of the European Convention that first drafted what became Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force in December 2009. He later served for a period as Deputy Chairman of Scottish Power.
Jack Lewis, Baron Lewis of Newnham, FRS, HonFRSC was an English chemist working mainly in the area of inorganic chemistry.
Richard Stuart Best, Baron Best, is an independent Crossbench Member of the House of Lords with a special interest in housing issues.
Sushanta Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya,, was a British-Indian engineer, educator and government advisor. In 1980, he became Professor of Manufacturing Systems at the University of Warwick and founded the Warwick Manufacturing Group. In 2004, he was made a life peer and became a member of the House of Lords.
Derek Ezra, Baron Ezra, MBE was a British coal industry administrator who served as Chairman of the National Coal Board for eleven years.
Leonard Gordon Wolfson, Baron Wolfson was a British businessman, the former chairman of GUS, and son of GUS magnate Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet. He is the father of Janet Wolfson de Botton.
Francis Leonard Tombs, Baron Tombs was an English industrialist and politician who served as a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 1990 until his retirement in 2015.
Guy Vaughan Black, Baron Black of Brentwood is Deputy Chairman of the Telegraph Media Group.
Jonathan Andrew Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum is the chief operating officer of investment trust RIT Capital Partners plc, and a Labour member of the House of Lords. He is a great-grandson of Joseph Breuer, and a great-great-great-grandson of Samson Raphael Hirsch and of Eliezer Liepman Philip Prins. He is a former Chief Executive of the innovation foundation the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). He was founding Chief Executive of the non-profit "action tank" The Portland Trust. Kestenbaum was created a life peer in 2011 as Baron Kestenbaum of Foxcote in the County of Somerset, and sits on the Labour benches. In 2013, Kestenbaum was installed as Chancellor of Plymouth University.
As part of the British honours system, Special Honours are issued at the Monarch's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer to the awards made within royal prerogative, operational honours, political honours and other honours awarded outside the New Years Honours and Birthday Honours.
Media related to Ronald Oxburgh, Baron Oxburgh at Wikimedia Commons