Gavin Schmidt

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British climatologist and mathematician

title: "Gavin Schmidt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["british-climatologists", "alumni-of-jesus-college,-oxford", "alumni-of-university-college-london", "living-people", "environmental-bloggers", "intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change-contributing-authors", "nasa-people", "british-expatriate-academics-in-the-united-states", "science-bloggers", "21st-century-science-writers", "atmospheric-physicists", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "climate-communication"] description: "British climatologist and mathematician" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavin_Schmidt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British climatologist and mathematician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameGavin Schmidt
imageGavin_Schmidt.jpg
captionGavin A. Schmidt
birth_date
nationalityBritish
educationBA (Oxon); PhD (London), both in mathematics
alma_materJesus College, Oxford
University College London.
employerGoddard Institute for Space Studies
occupationClimate modeller, Climatologist
websiteSchmidt's homepage
::

| name = Gavin Schmidt | image = Gavin_Schmidt.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Gavin A. Schmidt | birth_date = | birth_place = | nationality = British | education = BA (Oxon); PhD (London), both in mathematics | alma_mater = Jesus College, Oxford University College London. | employer = Goddard Institute for Space Studies | occupation = Climate modeller, Climatologist | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relations = | awards = | website = Schmidt's homepage Gavin A. Schmidt is a British climatologist, climate modeler and Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, and co-founder of the climate science blog RealClimate.

Work

He was educated at The Corsham School, earned a BA (Hons) in mathematics at Jesus College, Oxford, and a PhD in applied mathematics at University College London. |url=http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=46 |title=Contributor's Biography page |work=RealClimate |date=6 December 2004 |access-date=2008-03-20 |author=Hansen, J. |display-authors=etal |date=2007 |title=Dangerous human-made interference with climate: A GISS modelE study. |journal=Atmos. Chem. Phys. |volume=7 |issue=9 |pages=2287–2312 |doi=10.5194/acp-7-2287-2007 |arxiv=physics/0610115 |bibcode=2007ACP.....7.2287H |s2cid=14992639 |doi-access=free |author=Koch, D., G.A. Schmidt, C.V. Field |date=2006 |title=Sulfur, sea salt and radionuclide aerosols in GISS ModelE. |journal=J. Geophys. Res. |volume=111 |issue=D06206 |pages=D06206 |doi=10.1029/2004JD005550 |bibcode=2006JGRD..111.6206K |doi-access=free |author=Schmidt, G.A. |display-authors=etal |date=2006 |title=Present day atmospheric simulations using GISS ModelE: Comparison to in-situ, satellite and reanalysis data |journal=J. Climate |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=153–192 |doi=10.1175/JCLI3612.1 |bibcode=2006JCli...19..153S |doi-access=free

As of 2024, Schmidt heads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He was named for the director position in June 2014 as its then deputy director, becoming to the third person to hold this post, which had been vacant after the retirement of James E. Hansen. In an interview with Science News, Schmidt said that he wanted to continue the institute's work on climate modeling and to expand its work on climate impacts and astrobiology.

Research

His main research interest is climate variability, both its internal and the response to climate forcing, investigated via ocean-atmosphere general circulation models. He also uses these to study palaeoclimate by working on methods to compare palaeo-data with model output. Schmidt helps to develop the GISS ocean and coupled GCMs (ModelE). This model has been "isotopically enabled" to carry oxygen-18 tracers, allowing the model to simulate the pattern of δ18O observed in ice cores, cave records and ocean sediments.

Media and outreach

Schmidt has appeared on various occasions in the media, often he is asked about his expertise on climate related study findings, current events or gives lectures. Schmidt worked with the American Museum of Natural History, the College de France, and the New York Academy of Sciences for education and outreach. Schmidt and eight other colleagues founded in 2004 the RealClimate blog. The blog provides critical commentary on climate science with the scope on outreach to the public and for journalists. |url=http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/about/ |title=RealClimate: About |date=1 December 2004 |access-date=2009-10-31 |url=http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/02/dummies-guide-to-the-latest-hockey-stick-controversy/ |title=Dummies guide to the latest "Hockey Stick" controversy |date=18 February 2005 |first1=Gavin |last1=Schmidt |first2=Caspar |last2=Amman |publisher=realclimate.org |access-date=12 April 2013

Schmidt was EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year in 2011.

Awards

In 2011, the American Geophysical Union awarded Schmidt the inaugural Climate Communications Prize, for his work on communicating climate-change issues to the public. The award news release noted his outreach work including co-founding and contributing to the RealClimate blog. | title = Inaugural Climate Communications Prize Winner Announced | url =http://news.agu.org/press-release/inaugural-climate-communications-prize-winner-announced/ | publisher = American Geophysical Union | date = 18 October 2011 | access-date = 2 December 2011 | last = Krajick | first =Kevin | title = New Public Outreach Prize Goes to Earth Institute Climatologist | url = http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/10/18/new-public-outreach-prize-goes-to-earth-institute-climatologist/ | publisher =State of the Planet blog, The Earth Institute, Columbia University | date =18 October 2011 | access-date = 2 December 2011 }} He was a contributing author of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); the work of the IPCC, including the contributions of many scientists, was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Schmidt was named as one of Scientific American's "Top 50 Research Leaders" of the year 2004. |url=http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20041109/ |author=Goddard Institute of Space Studies |title=NASA Climatologists Named in Scientific American Top 50 Scientists |date=9 November 2004 |access-date=2004-11-09

Publications

Schmidt has published over 100 studies in peer-reviewed journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science, and Nature, on various climate related topics. |url=http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/authors/gschmidt.html |title=GISS Publications, Gavin A.Schmidt web page |access-date=2008-04-11

He is the co-author, with Joshua Wolfe, of Climate Change: Picturing the Science (2009), which has a foreword by Jeffrey D. Sachs. The book combines images of the effects of climate change with scientific explanations. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wv3DNJ4YI7YC&q=Climate+Change:+Picturing+the+Science |last1=Schmidt |first1=G.A. |first2=J. |last2=Wolfe |title=Climate Change: Picturing the Science |publisher=W.W. Norton |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-393-33125-7 |pages=305

His Erdős number is four.

Selected publications

  • Lenssen, Nathan J. L., Gavin A. Schmidt, James E. Hansen, Matthew J. Menne, Avraham Persin, Reto Ruedy, and Daniel Zyss (2019). "Improvements in the GISTEMP Uncertainty Model," Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 214(12), pp. 6307-6326.
  • {{cite journal |author = Schmidt, G. |title = Does science progress? Glibert Plass redux |journal = American Scientist |volume = 98 |issue = 1 |pages = 64–5 |date = 2010 |doi = 10.1511/2010.82.58 |url = http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/2010/2010_Schmidt_2.pdf |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111022112511/http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/2010/2010_Schmidt_2.pdf |archive-date = 2011-10-22

References

References

  1. (6 July 2009). "Gavin Schmidt: a climatologist trying to give out the right signals amid the noise". [[The Guardian]].
  2. "Dr. Gavin A. Schmidt". NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
  3. Freedman, Andrew. (2024-03-21). "Scientist: 2023 heat may put world in "uncharted territory"".
  4. (June 9, 2014). "NASA Names Schmidt Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies". NASA.
  5. (June 9, 2014). "'Unflappable' Science 'Warrior' Chosen to Lead Key NASA Climate Lab".
  6. [[Fred Pearce. Pearce, Fred]], ''The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming'', (2010) [[Guardian Books]], {{ISBN. 978-0-85265-229-9, p. XII, pp. 181–182.
  7. (15 January 2012). "Gavin Schmidt is the EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year". EarthSky.
  8. IPCC AR4. (2007). "Annex II: Contributors to the IPCC WGI Fourth Assessment Report".
  9. "Collaboration Distance - zbMATH Open".

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