STOCKHOLM: Bert Bolin, a pioneering Swedish climate scientist and co-founder of the UN's Nobel award-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has died, his colleague Henning Rodhe said today. He was 82.
As early as the 1950s, Bolin produced research about the circulation of carbon in nature that remains relevant to the continuing debate on climate change. Most importantly, he played a key role in communicating the dangers of climate change to decision-makers and served as the first chairman of the IPCC from 1988 to 1998.
He died in a Stockholm hospital from stomach cancer, but was active until three days before he died, said Rodhe, a professor in chemical meteorology at Stockholm University.
"He was an eminent organiser and leader and played an important role internationally in establishing links between scientists and decision-makers," Rodhe said.
"He was very happy that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the IPCC and Al Gore. He was especially pleased about the fact that the prize was split in two, to award both the pure scientific work and the work to communicate these issues to the general public," he added.
Bolin completed his PhD at Stockholm University in 1956, and was Professor of Meteorology there between 1961 and 1990. He has also been the scientific director of the European Space Agency, or ESA.
He received many awards for his research about the climate, including the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal in 1984, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1988 and the Blue Planet Prize in 1995.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Europe/Climate_scientist_and_IPCC_co-founder_Bert_Bolin_dies_at_82/articleshow/2670592.cms