John T. Houghton

Sir John Theodore Houghton CBE FRS FLSW (born 30 December 1931) is a Welsh scientist who was the co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group. He was the lead editor of first three IPCC reports. He was professor in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford, former Director General at the Met Office and founder of the Hadley Centre.

He is the president of the John Ray Initiative, an organisation "connecting Environment, Science and Christianity",^[2] where he has compared the stewardship of the Earth, to the stewardship of the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve.^[3] He is a founder member of the International Society for Science and Religion. He is also the current president of the Victoria Institute.

Biography

Born in Dyserth he moved to Rhyl at the age of two and attended Rhyl Grammar School where he discovered his interest in science. He continued his education at Jesus College, Oxford, gaining an MA (Oxon), MPhil and DPhil. He was brought up, in Wales, as an evangelical Christian by devout Christian parents and has remained a strong Christian throughout his life and sees science and Christianity as strengthening each other and believes strongly in the connection between Christianity and environmentalism. Houghton's evangelical Christianity combined with his scientific background has made him a significant voice in evangelical Christian circles. Winning the support of Richard Cizik, one of the most prominent Evangelical lobbyists in the United States, is a notable example of how Houghton has had a significant effect. He is currently an elder at Aberdovey Presbyterian Church.

Houghton is currently Honorary Scientist of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research at the Met Office; Honorary Scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; a Trustee of the Shell Foundation; Chairman of the John Ray Initiative ^[4] and in 2013 was announced as an Advisory Board member for Sure Chill Technology.

Previously Sir John was

• a Member of the UK Government Panel on Sustainable Development (1994–2000)
• Chairman, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1992–98)
• Chairman or Co-Chairman, Scientific Assessment Working Group, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1988–2002)
• Director General (later Chief Executive), UK Meteorological Office (1983–91)
• Director Appleton, Science and Engineering Research Council (also Deputy Director, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)(1979–83);
• Professor of Atmospheric Physics, Oxford University (1976–83).

During the 1970s he was also Principal Investigator for Space Experiments on NASA Spacecraft.

He moved back to Wales and currently lives in Aberdyfi. In 2007 he criticised the controversial documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle for its inaccuracies.

Awards and honours

• Albert Einstein World Award of Science (2009)^[5]
• Japan Prize (2006)
• International Meteorological Organization Prize (1999)
• American Meteorological Society, Honorary Member (1998)
• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1995)
• Global 500 Award, under the United Nations Environmental Programme (1994)
• Climate Institute Annual Award (1992)
• Bakerian Lecture of the Royal Society, (1991);
• Symons Gold Medal, Royal Meteorological Society (1990)
• Glazebrook Medal Institute of Physics, (1990);
• William Gaskell Medal of the Royal Meteorological Society, (1983)
• President of the Royal Meteorological Society (1976–1978)
• Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (1972)

He has received Honorary Doctorates of Science from the Universities of Wales (1991), Stirling (1992), East Anglia (1993), Leeds (1995), Heriot-Watt (1996), Greenwich (1997), Glamorgan (1998), Reading (1999), Birmingham (2000), Gloucestershire (2001), Hull (2002) and Dalhousie (2010). He is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and of University of Wales, Lampeter and is also a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

Publications

His publications include

• Does God Play Dice? 1988, Intervarsity Press
• Global Warming, the Complete Briefing, 1994, Lion Publishing (2nd edition 1997, Cambridge University Press; 3rd edition 2004, Cambridge University Press; 4th edition 2010, Cambridge University Press; 5th edition 2015, Cambridge University Press)
• The search for God; can science help? 1995, Lion Publishing
• Physics of Atmospheres, 1977. 2nd edition 1986, 3rd edition 2002, Cambridge University Press.
• Climate Change, the IPCC Scientific Assessment, eds J.T. Houghton, G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums, 1990, Cambridge University Press
• Climate Change 1992, the Supplementary Report to the IPCC Scientific Assessment, eds. J.T. Houghton, B.A. Callander and S.K. Varney, 1992, Cambridge University Press
• Climate Change 1994, Radiative Forcing of Climate Change and an Evaluation of the IPCC IS92 Emission Scenarios, eds. J.T. Houghton, L.G. Meira Filho, J. Bruce, Hoesung Lee, B.A. Callander, E. Haites, N. Harris and K. Maskell, 1994, Cambridge University Press
• Climate Change 1995, the Science of Climate Change, eds. J.T. Houghton, L.G. Meira Filho, B.A.Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg and K. Maskell, 1995, Cambridge University Press
• Climate Change 2001, The Scientific Basis, eds J.T. Houghton, Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell, C.A. Johnson, 2001 Cambridge University Press

Misquotation

In a November 2006 article in Australia's The Daily Telegraph, journalist Piers Akerman quoted Houghton as saying "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen", attributing the quotation to his 1994 book Global Warming, The Complete Briefing. This has since been quoted by many sceptics, including Benny Peiser and Christopher Monckton, and is listed at the top of the front page of Christopher Booker's The Real Global Warming Disaster. However, the quotation does not appear in any edition of Houghton's book. Houghton has never said any such thing and believes the opposite.^[6] The publishers of The Real Global Warming Disaster, The Continuum International Publishing Group, have apologised for the reference to that quotation, confirmed (in addition to Booker's confirmation) that it will not be repeated, and have agreed to place a corrigendum in any further copies of the book. In an article which appeared in The Sunday Telegraph on 20 February 2010, Christopher Booker purported to correct the misquotation contained in The Real Global Warming Disaster but this article contained yet further inaccuracies.^[7] As a result, Houghton referred the matter to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC Reference 101959). Following the PCC's involvement, The Sunday Telegraph published on 15 August 2010 a letter of correction by Houghton stating his true position.^[8] An article supportive of Houghton also appears in the 21 May 2010 edition of New Scientist.^[9]

The correct quotation was, "If we want a good environmental policy in the future we'll have to have a disaster. It's like safety on public transport. The only way humans will act is if there's been an accident."^[10]

References

External links

• "Global warming is getting worse - but the message is getting through" (August, 2004) and "Global warming is now a weapon of mass destruction" (July, 2003) from The Guardian
• Overview of Climate Change, 2002
• Global warming - science, impacts and politics, lecture 2001
• Evidence to Select Committee on Science and Technology, 2000
• Biography; publications list