June 8th, 2009
GFDL’s Director, Dr. V. “Ram” Ramaswamy, was invited to give the second annual Bert Bolin Lecture on Climate Research at Stockholm University. Ram’s lecture, delivered on May 29, 2009, explored the significant role that pollution particulates (aerosols) from human-induced emissions have played in the evolution of the global climate in the twentieth century. In his talk, “Dissecting the Roles of Aerosols and Greenhouse Gases in Climate Change: Scientific Understanding and Policy Implications”, Ram discussed projections of future climate change, and the importance of climate impacts from aerosols, both globally and regionally.
The lecture series was founded by the university to commemorate Bert Bolin, a Professor of Meteorology at the university, who was the first chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. While earning his doctorate, Dr. Bolin spent a year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, working with Jule Charney. Four years later, Dr. Charney would help to establish a numerical weather prediction unit within the U.S. Weather Bureau, which later became GFDL.