Winners of Tyler Environmental Prize announced
Founders: John and Alice Tyler
Two scientists who found warning signs of climate change in the upper atmosphere and in the deepest ice sheets will share the 2009 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.
The award, consisting of a $200,000 cash prize and gold medals, will go to Richard Alley, professor of geosciences at Penn State University, and Veerabhadran (Ram) Ramanathan, professor of atmospheric and climate sciences in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego…
The prize committee recognized the two “for their scientific contributions that advanced understanding of how human activities influence global climate, and alter oceanic, glacial and atmospheric phenomena in ways that adversely affect planet Earth.”
Alley is widely credited with showing that Earth has experienced abrupt climate change in the past, and likely will again. He based his work on a meticulous study of ice cores from Greenland and West Antarctica. Up to two miles thick, the ice sheets contain a unique record of Earth’s climate history.
“His wonderful book ‘The Two-Mile Time Machine’ (on the climate record from Greenland ice cores and its implications for humankind) combines good science with a serious message and succeeds, equally, with novices and experts.”
One of the world’s leading atmospheric scientists, Ramanathan was the first to show that ozone-depleting aerosols could aggravate the greenhouse effect. In 1980, he correctly predicted that global warming from carbon dioxide would be detectable by the year 2000.
I’ve mentioned before that I worked with one of the folks who wrote the definition of ice geologist during the original IGY in the 1950′s. Some wonderful times learning about ice cores – when we were supposed to be designing stress-corrosion cracking tests on non-ferrous metals. 
If you have an enquiring mind, I see no reason ever to limit your studies or interests. Life isn’t long enough to specialize. I know that sounds contradictory; but, reflect for a bit on this journey and how you find new ways to understand it all.
