Chemistry Alum Susan Solomon Among IPCC Nobel Laureates
Alumna Susan Solomon (Chem '77), along with her colleagues on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr., was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on October 12. Soloman is the head of the atmospheric chemistry division at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and serves as co-chair of the IPCC's Working Group 1. She was responsible for drafting the Summary for Policymakers released earlier this year.
Solomon was quoted extensively in the October 13 Rocky Mountain News:
"It's a tremendous feeling to see the work that has been going on for so long and by so many people to be acknowledged," said Susan Solomon, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That the Nobel was awarded for peace rather than chemistry or another hard science was fine with Solomon.
"Science has a role to play in serving world peace," she said. "Better to know the facts than to live in ignorance."
Solomon, the first person to explain that man-made chlorofluorocarbons were destroying the ozone, took the lead in summarizing for policymakers the science of climate change in the 2007 report.
In an October 13 article in the Chicago Tribune, Solomon credited her IIT education with piquing her interest in climate change:
| Illinois Institute of Technology graduate Susan Solomon said her chemistry courses served as the catalyst for her interest in global warming. Solomon, a Colorado resident, led the group that studied the physical science of global warming, such as melting glaciers. "Of course, anybody who's ever lived in Chicago can appreciate global warming," Solomon said. "For those of us who remember Chicago in the '70s or '80s, we used to get more snow. ... [and] in the summertime, we're already hot enough. So the idea of even more heat waves is really important." |
Read more about Susan Solomon on the Chemical Heritage Foundation Website.
Read Solomon's testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology.
reprinted from IIT Today October 15, 2007
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