Climate researcher receives Swiss science prize
Climate researcher Thomas Stocker, professor at the University of Bern, is awarded this year's Swiss Science Prize "Marcel Benoist". Using modeling, he was able to show climate changes and consequences.
According to the Marcel Benoist Foundation, the climate scientist's findings are of great significance for human life and address one of the most important challenges facing society today. Federal Councillor Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, President of the Marcel Benoist Foundation, received Professor Thomas Stocker in Bern and congratulated him on this important award.
Professor Thomas Stocker is nationally and internationally one of the key figures in climate research.
Greenhouse concentrations
At the beginning of his research career in the late 1980s, the focus was on theoretical modeling; later, he brought this together with findings from various climate archives. He discovered that there is a close connection between changes in ocean currents and climate.
His team and colleagues are conducting ice core drilling in Greenland and Antarctica, among other places, where greenhouse gas concentrations have been determined over the last 800,000 years.
Renowned climate researcher
With his research, Professor Thomas Stocker makes a significant contribution to a better understanding of the complexity of the global climate system and the emerging climate changes. In his field, he is one of the most cited scientists in Switzerland and is author and co-author of more than 200 scientific articles. He has received several awards for his work.
Professor Thomas Stocker understands how to present the problems in his field of research and his findings in a way that is comprehensible not only to the scientific community, but also to political decision-makers and the general public. With his scientific findings, he enjoys a high level of acceptance.
His report for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC working group, which was adopted by all countries under his chairmanship in September 2013, formed the scientific basis for the Paris climate agreement.
He is also a successful academic facilitator and mentor. He has passed on his knowledge to a large number of students and researchers over the decades. Some of them, in turn, hold professorships at home and abroad today.
Thomas Stocker has headed the Department of Climate and Environmental Physics at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern since 1993.
Marcel Benoist Foundation
The Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize has been awarded every year since 1920 to established scientists in Switzerland for their significant work and its impact on human life. In its almost hundred-year history, ten laureates have subsequently received the Nobel Prize. The two Federal Institutes of Technology and the ten Swiss universities are represented on the Board of Trustees of the Marcel Benoist Foundation.
The Foundation Board is working to put the soon-to-be 100-year-old Marcel Benoist Foundation on a sustainable footing. This year, for the first time, the Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize is endowed with 250,000 Swiss francs. The formal ceremony for the presentation of the Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize will take place on November 1, 2017 in Bern. On this occasion, the Foundation Board will provide information on the future of the Swiss Science Award.
