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Fred Singer

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S(iegfried) Frederick Singer
Born(1924-10-27)October 27, 1924
Vienna, Austria
NationalityUnited States
AwardsWhite House Presidential Commendation
Gold Medal, Distinguished Federal Service
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, Atmospheric Science
Electrical Engineering
InstitutionsPrinceton, University of Virginia
George Mason University
University of Miami
Ohio State University

Siegfried Frederick Singer (born September 27, 1924 in Vienna) is an American atmospheric physicist. Singer is Professor Emeritus of environmental science at the University of Virginia, specializing in planetary science, global warming, ozone depletion, and other global environmental issues. Singer received a B.E.E from Ohio State University in 1943; an A.M. in physics from Princeton in 1944; and a Ph.D in physics from Princeton in 1948. Singer has received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Ohio State University in 1970.

Singer designed the backscatter photometer ozone-monitoring instrument for early versions of US weather satellites Singer was Director of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, Chief Scientist, United States Department of Transportation from 1987 to 1989, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency from 1970 to 1971, and the first Director of the National Weather Bureau's Satellite Service Center, where upon his leave he received a Gold Medal for Distinguished Federal Service. In 1964, became the first dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences at the University of Miami.

Singer has also been a consultant to the House Select Committee on Space, NASA, GAO, NSF, AEC, NRC, DOD (Strategic Defense Initiative), US DOE Nuclear Waste Panel, the US Treasury, and the state governments of Virginia, Alaska, and Pennsylvania, and to various industries including GE, Ford, GM, Exxon, Shell, Sun Oil, Lockheed Martin and IBM.

In the 1950s, Singer was Director of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Maryland.

In 1960 Singer supported the suggestion of Russian astrophysicist Iosif Samuilovich Shklovsky that the Martian moon Phobos was of artificial origin. In 1981, he proposed a manned mission to the moons .

Singer is president and founder (in 1990) of the Science & Environmental Policy Project, which disputes the scientific relevance environmental issues such as climate change, ozone depletion, and secondhand smoke and is a regular contributor and adviser to the conservative journal NewsMax.

Singer is skeptical about the connection between second hand smoke and lung cancer. Singer has also worked with organizations with similar views, such as the Independent Institute, the American Council on Science and Health, Frontiers of Freedom, the Marshall Institute, and the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Degrees

Singer holds a B.E.E. in Electrical engineering from Ohio State University and an A.M. and PhD in Physics from Princeton University.

Career

In the 1940s and 50s Singer designed the first instruments used in satellites to measure cosmic radiation and ozone.

Previous government and academic positions:

  • Director of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Maryland (1953-62)
  • Special advisor to President Eisenhower on space developments (1960)
  • First Director of the National Weather Satellite Service (1962-64)
  • Founding Dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences, University of Miami (1964-67)
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water Quality and Research, U.S. Department of the Interior (1967- 70)
  • Deputy Assistant Administrator for Policy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1970-71)
  • Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia (1971-94)
  • Chief Scientist, U.S. Department of Transportation (1987- 89)

Space and exploration

In 1994, Singer contributed to a paper on the results from the Interplanetary Dust Experiment using data from the Long Duration Exposure Facility satellite. Singer also has been a proponent of manned exploration to Mars.

Kuwait oil fires debate

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Dr. S. Fred Singer debated Carl Sagan on the impact of the Kuwaiti petroleum fires on the ABC News program Nightline. Sagan said we know from the nuclear winter investigation that the smoke would loft into the upper atmosphere and that he believed the net effects would be very similar to the explosion of the Indonesian volcano Tambora in 1815, which resulted in the year 1816 being known as the year without a summer, in massive agricultural failures, in very serious human suffering and, in some cases, starvation. He predicted the same for south Asia, and perhaps for a significant fraction of the northern hemisphere as well as a result. Singer, on the other hand, said that calculations showed that the smoke would go to an altitude of about 3,000 feet and then be rained out after about three to five days and thus the lifetime of the smoke would be limited. According to a later study, the Kuwaiti oil fires, "had no lasting meteorological impacts at any of the locations examined, and there has been no change to the seasonal synoptic weather patterns throughout the Persian Gulf Region". However, Persian Gulf cities like Dhahran, Riyadh and Bahrain experienced days with smoke filled skies and carbon fallout."

Global warming

As recently as 2003, Singer said that the atmosphere had not warmed in recent decades. Singer has emphasized natural factors over anthropogenic causes to explain global warming. Singer wrote:

The scientific world had known about the sunspot connection to Earth’s climate for some 400 years. British astronomer William Herschel claimed in 1801 that he could forecast wheat prices by sunspot numbers, because wheat crops were often poor when sunspots (and thus solar activity) were low. Not only did the Maunder minimum (1645-1715) coincide with the coldest period of the Little Ice Age, the Spörer Minimum (1450–1543) aligned with the second-coldest phase of that period.

His most recent sole-author publication on global warming was a letter about other scientists' research which appeared in Eos, December 16, 1997. However, Singer is also listed as co-author of two 2004 articles in Geophysics Research Letters.

He is the co-author of the New York Times Bestseller Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years with Dennis T. Avery of the Hudson Institute.

A 2007 Newsweek cover story on climate change denial reported that: "In April 1998 a dozen people from the denial machine — including the Marshall Institute, Fred Singer's group and Exxon — met at the American Petroleum Institute's Washington headquarters. They proposed a $5 million campaign, according to a leaked eight-page memo, to convince the public that the science of global warming is riddled with controversy and uncertainty." The plan was reportedly aimed at "raising questions about and undercutting the 'prevailing scientific wisdom'" on climate change. According to Newsweek, the plan was leaked to the press and therefore was never implemented.

In 2007, the nonprofit advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists called Singer a "climate contrarian."

NIPCC

In 2008, Singer's group, the Science and Environmental Policy Project, created the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change. The NIPCC report titled "Nature, Not Human Activity Rules the Climate , published by the Heartland Institute was released in February-March 2008. Singer served as General Editor and is the copyright owner. It is unclear if the report is the "report itself" or the summary of an as-yet unreleased report since the report's second page subtitles it "Summary for Policymakers of the Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change."

Climate scientists from NASA, Stanford University and Princeton dismissed Singer's most recent report on global warming as "fabricated nonsense." Singer acknowledges accepting $10,000 from Exxon.

UVA and melanoma

Singer has stated there is a connection between UV-A and melanoma, as well as between the shorter-wavelength UV-B radiation and basal and squamous cell skin cancers. However, he believes that there is "no clear relation" between UV-B and melanoma rates, based on published research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. UV-B radiation and melanoma

Publication on health effects of tobacco

In 1994 Singer was Chief Reviewer of the published report Science, economics, and environmental policy: a critical examination published by the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI), a conservative think tank of which he was a Senior Fellow. Singer was a co-author of early drafts of the report and had been singled out as the man for the job in a memo from AdTI to the Tobacco Institute . A notation on that memo from Walter Woodson, Vice President-Public Affairs of the Tobacco Institute to Sam Chilcote, Jr, President of the Tobacco Institute, said that the job would be well worth the $20,000. The report attacked the United States Environmental Protection Agency for their 1993 study about the cancer risks of passive smoking and called it "junk science".

Writing for The Guardian, George Monbiot stated that in 1993 APCO, a public relations firm, sent a memo to Philip Morris vice-president Ellen Merlo stating: "As you know, we have been working with Dr. Fred Singer and Dr. Dwight Lee, who have authored articles on junk science and indoor air quality (IAQ) respectively ..." Monbiot wrote that he did not have direct evidence that Singer had been paid by Philip Morris.

Notes and references

  1. ^ S. Fred Singer. "Professional Background S. FRED SINGER, Ph.D." Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  2. ^ Lehr, Jay H. (1992). Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns. John Wiley And Sons. p. 393. ISBN 0471284858.
  3. Harris, Paul G. (2001). The Environment, International Relations, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Georgetown University Press. p. 130. ISBN 0878408339.
  4. Hogan, James P. (2005). Catastrophes, Chaos & Convolutions. Baen Books. ISBN 1416509216.
  5. ^ Levy, Lillian. Space, Its Impact on Man and Society. Ayer Publishing. pp. xiii. ISBN 0836981642.
  6. Singer, Siegfried Fred (1975). The Changing Global Environment. Springer Publishers. p. 401. ISBN 9027704023.
  7. Lehr, Jay H. (1992). Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns. John Wiley And Sons. p. 393. ISBN 0471284858.
  8. The EPA and the science of environmental tobacco smoke /
  9. [http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2040165575.html
  10. Singer, S. F., Astronautics, February 1960
  11. Science & Environmental Policy Project - About the Project
  12. S. Fred Singer (2006-07-22). "The Week That Was". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  13. S. Fred Singer (1999-01-10). "Parting green clouds". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  14. S. Fred Singer (2006-11-22). "Public misled". Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  15. S. Fred Singer: The Independent Institute
  16. Warming Caused by Natural Cycle | Not Humans | News | E-Team
  17. http://spiedl.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PSISDG002214000001000076000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes
  18. 2153rd Meeting, Friday, November 22, 2002 8:15 PM
  19. "FIRST ISRAELI SCUD FATALITIES OIL FIRES IN KUWAIT". Nightline. 1991-01-22. ABC. yes. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  20. Patrick K. Dowling. "The Meteorological Effects of the Kuwait Oil Fires" (PDF).
  21. S. Fred Singer (2003). "McLieberman Bill Unsupported By Science: Voted Down by Senate". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-04-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  22. S. Fred Singer (2003). "EPA Bias on Global Warming". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-04-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  23. S. Fred Singer (2005). "The Physical Evidence of Earth's Unstoppable 1,500-Year Climate Cycle" (PDF). SEPP. Retrieved 2007-02-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. However, an article from the Journal Science describes how the Sun's role in climate variation is ambiguous. A more detailed discussion of the lack of evidence of a link between the sun and the earth's climate can be found at RealClimate
  25. Unknowns About Climate Variability Render Treaty Targets Premature, EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, Volume 78, page 584, December 16, 1997
  26. See SEPP, "Further reading"
  27. The Truth About Denial, by Sharon Begley. Published in Newsweek on August 13 2007; accessed November 8 2007.
  28. Scientist Calls Global Warming Theories 'Bunk,' Cites Errors of Logic
  29. Report notice: Opinions expressed are solely those of the authors. Nothing in this report should be construed as reflecting the views of the Science and Environmental Policy Project or The Heartland Institute, or as an attempt to influence pending legislation.
  30. Harris, Dan (2008-03-23). "Global Warming Denier: Fraud or 'Realist'?". ABC News. ABCnews.com. Retrieved 2008-03-24. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  31. S. Fred Singer. "Environmental Strategies with Uncertain Science". Cato Institute. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  32. S. Fred Singer (1995-02-01). "Lecture at St. Vincent College: The Use and Misuse of Science". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  33. S. Fred Singer (1996-08-01). "Testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Ozone Depletion". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  34. S. Fred Singer (1994). "Ozone, Skin Cancer, and the SST". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-02-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  35. S. Fred Singer (1994-03-21). "The hole truth about CFCs". SEPP. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  36. The EPA and the science of environmental tobacco smoke /
  37. "Junking Science to Promote Tobacco".
  38. "Junking Science to Promote Tobacco" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  39. George Monbiot (2006-09-19). "The denial industry". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-26.

Publications

  • Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate a document claiming to be a "Summary for Policymakers of the Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change", although there is no evidence that the report of which it claims to be a summary exists. Edited by S. Fred Singer, copyright SEPP, published for the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change by "The Heartland Institute", March 2008.
  • (with Dennis T Avery) Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. 260 pp ISBN 0742551172

See also

Further reading

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