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| Alma mater | Imperial College, University of London Stanford University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Science History, Economic geology |
| Institutions | Stanford University U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Dartmouth College Harvard University New York University University of California San Diego |
Naomi Oreskes is Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California San Diego and an author. She has worked on studies of geophysics, environmental issues such as global warming, and the history of science.
Background
Oreskes graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1976. She received her BSc degree in Mining Geology from the Royal School of Mines of Imperial College, University of London in 1981, and worked as a Research Assistant in the Geology Department and as a Teaching Assistant in the departments of Geology, Philosophy and Applied Earth Sciences at Stanford University starting in 1984. She received her PhD degree in the Graduate Special Program in Geological Research and History of Science at Stanford in 1990. She received a National Science Foundation's Young Investigator Award in 1994.
She has worked as a consultant for the United States Environmental Protection Agency and U.S National Academy of Sciences, and has also taught at Dartmouth, Harvard and New York University (NYU). She is also a member of the History of Science Society. She is the author or has contributed to a number of essays and technical reports in economic geology and science history in addition to three books:
- Plate Tectonics: An Insider’s History of the Modern Theory of the Earth, Edited with Homer Le Grand) (2003) Westview Press, ISBN 0-8133-4132-9
- The Rejection of Continental Drift: Theory and Method in American Earth Science (1999) Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-511733-6
- Perspectives on Geophysics, Special Issue of Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 31B, Oreskes, Naomi and James R. Fleming, eds. 2000.
Oreskes is currently the Provost of the Sixth College at the University of California, San Diego.
Science and society essay
Oreskes wrote an essay on science and society Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change in the journal Science in December 2004.
In the essay she reported an analysis of “928 abstracts, published in refereed scientific journals between 1993 and 2003 and published in the ISI database with the keywords ‘global climate change’”. The essay stated the analysis was to test the hypothesis that the drafting of reports and statements by societies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Academy of Sciences might downplay legitimate dissenting opinions on anthropogenic climate change. After the analysis, she concluded that 75 percent of the examined abstracts either explicitly or implicitly backed the consensus view, while none directly dissented from it. The essay received a great deal of media attention from around the world and has been cited by many prominent persons such as Al Gore in the movie An Inconvenient Truth.
Oreskes' conclusions was challenged by Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist who repeated her search, but specifying "all document types." i.e. methodological errors in her analysis. This led to a different result than obtained by Oreskes; he enumerated the figure of backing the consensus view at closer to only 30% . Peiser's letter to Science on the subject was rejected by the editors, on the grounds that he already had disseminated his results widely on the internet. Peisers main objection was to the claim of an unanimous consensus, as opposed to a majority consensus.
The effect of Oreskes error, according to the Majority Fact of the Day from the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (July 24, 2006), was that "her supposedly comprehensive research excluded about 11,000 papers" or "more than 90% of the papers" dealing with climate change. It also cited Peiser's view that “Oreskes entire argument is flawed as the whole ISI data set includes just 13 abstracts (less than 2%) that explicitly endorse what she has called the 'consensus view.’”.
Oreskes' analysis was also criticized by University of Vermont environmental professor Saleem Ali, who said it "ignored a petition by 17,000 signatories under the auspices of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine that challenges the orthodoxy."
In ‘The Deniers’ Lawrence Solomon documents more than 16 scientists skeptical of global warming. and in his update
In 2007, Oreskes expanded her analysis, stating that approximately 20 percent of abstracts explicitly endorsed the consensus on climate change that: "Earth's climate is being affected by human activities". In addition, 55 percent of abstracts "implicitly" endorsed the consensus by engaging in research to characterize the ongoing and/or future impact of climate change (50 percent of abstracts) or to mitigate against predicted changes (5 percent). The remaining 25 percent focused on either paleoclimate (10%) or developing measurement techniques (15%); Oreskes did not classify these as taking a position on contemporary global climate change.
The Misplaced Pages page about her
Lawrence Solomon reports on what he sees as the systematic deletion of his efforts to reference published objections by Benny Peiser to Oreskes' paper at Misplaced Pages.
Selected awards, honors, and fellowships
- George Sarton Award Lecture, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2004
- American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship, 2001-2002.
- National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, 1994-1999.
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers, 1993-94.
- Society of Economic Geologists Lindgren Prize for outstanding work by a young scientist, 1993.
- Ritter Memorial Fellowship in History of Marine Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1994.
- Listed, Who’s Who in American Science and Engineering, Who’s Who in the West.
References
- Oreskes publication record at UCSD
- Naomi Oreskes (2004-12-03). "Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change". Science. 306 (5702): 1686. doi:10.1126/science.1103618.
See also:
- Oreskes, N. Beyond the Ivory Tower, The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change (including corrections), 21 January 2005, (Retrieved 24 April 2008)
- Exchange of letters to Science
- Cite error: The named reference
science-essaywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - "There is No Consensus on Global Warming" The Wall Street Journal
- Benny Peiser’s critique of Oreske’s essay on climate change consensus
- Mediawatch: Peiser
- Politicization 101: Segregating Scientists According to Political Orientation 17 March 2006
- Deltoid: Peiser Admits to Making a Mistake
- Majority Fact of the Day Failed Defense by U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
- (Archived 13 April 2008)>
- ^ Solomon, 2008
- Oreskes, Naomi (2007). "The scientific consensus on climate change: How do we know we're not wrong?". In Joseph F. DiMento, Pamela Doughman (ed.). Climate Change. MIT Press. ISBN 026204241X.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - Misplaced Pages's zealots, The thought police at the supposedly independent site are fervently enforcing the climate orthodoxy, Lawrence Solomon, National Post, Saturday, April 12, 2008
Literature
- Solomon, Lawrence (2008). The Deniers: The World Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud - and Those Who are Too Fearful to Do So. Richard Vigilante Books (15 April 2008). ISBN 978-0980076318.