Link to Editorial In Wall Street Journal

Ivar Giaever
Nobel Laureate 1973

That's how Al Gore described the science of climate change this week, by which we suppose he meant it's elementary and unchallengeable. Well, Mr. Vice President, meet Ivar Giaever, a 1973 physics Nobel Laureate who resigned last week from the American Physical Society in protest over the group's insistence that evidence of man-made global warming is "incontrovertible."

In an email to the society, Mr. Giaever-who works at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute-wrote that "The claim (how can you measure the average temperature of the whole earth for a whole year?) is that the temperature has changed from ~288.0 to ~288.8 degree Kelvin in about 150 years, which (if true) means to me . . . that the temperature has been amazingly stable, and both human health and happiness have definitely improved in this 'warming' period."

Mr. Giaever was an American Physical Society fellow, an honor bestowed on "only half of one percent" of the members, according to a spokesman. He follows in the footsteps of University of California at Santa Barbara Emeritus Professor of Physics Harold Lewis, a former APS fellow who resigned in 2010, calling global warming "the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist."

Other dissenters include Stanford University physicist and Nobelist Robert B. Laughlin, deceased green revolution icon and Nobelist Norman Borlaug, Princeton physicist William Happer and World Federation of Scientists President Antonino Zichichi. Our point is not that all of these men agree on climate change, much less mankind's contribution to it, only that to one degree or another they maintain an open mind about warming or what to do about it.

One of the least savory traits of climate-change advocates is how they've tried to bully anyone who keeps an open mind. This is true of many political projects, but it is or ought to be anathema to the scientific method. With the cap-and-trade movement stymied, Mr. Gore and the climate clan have become even more arch in their dismissals of anyone who disagrees. Readers can decide who they'd rather study physics with-Professor Giaever, or Mr. Gore's list of politically certified instructors.

Nobel Laureate's letter of resignation from the APS

Dear Ms. Kirby

Thank you for your letter inquiring about my membership. I did not renew it because I can not live with the statement below:

Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth's climate. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide as well as methane, nitrous oxide and other gases. They are emitted from fossil fuel combustion and a range of industrial and agricultural processes.

The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring.

If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth's physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.

In the APS it is ok to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible? The claim (how can you measure the average temperature of the whole earth for a whole year?) is that the temperature has changed from ~288.0 to ~288.8 degree Kelvin in about 150 years, which (if true) means to me is that the temperature has been amazingly stable, and both human health and happiness have definitely improved in this - warming - period.

Best regards,

Ivar Giaever

Nobel Laureate 1973

Readers of the Wall Street Journal Editorial should note that they forgot to mention Dr. Roger Cohen as an important dissenter and as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), just like Professors Ivar Giaever and Hal Lewis. The WSJ also should have mentioned that Princeton Professor of Physics Will Happer is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Part of the problem with the Global Warming scam is that proponents have so cheapened the awards and honors in science that many people just shrug. "What's the difference between Nobelist Gore and Nobelist Giaever," they likely think. With too many members of the National Academy of Sciences also being unworthy of the honor, it is more difficult to spot those who really deserve it, like Will Happer.
My father was a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society but would hardly have been happy sitting next to James Hansen who isn't even a meteorologist and was given their highest "Carl Rosby" award.
A Nobel Laureate's resignation from the APS is a big boost for us, because it completely undercuts Gore's arguments about consensus and authority. Of course, Gore completely undercuts Gore by being ever more outrageous. Only the faithful still bow at his feet.

Gordon J. Fulks, PhD
Corbett, Oregon USA