Nobel physics prize goes to 3 for climate discoveries

Stockholm, October 5 (BNA): The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy.

Syukuro Manabe, 90, and Klaus Hasselmann, 89, are cited for their work on “physical modeling of Earth’s climate, variability measurement and reliable prediction of global warming.”

The second half of the prize was awarded to Giorgio Baresi, 73, for “discovering the interaction of chaos and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”

The panel said Manabe and Haselman “layed the foundation for our knowledge of Earth’s climate and how humanity affects it, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Beginning in the 1960s, Manabe demonstrated how an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would increase global temperatures, laying the foundations for current climate models.

About a decade later, Haselman created a model that links weather and climate, which helps explain why climate models can be reliable despite the chaotic nature of weather.

He also developed methods for looking for specific signs of human influence on climate.

“Parissi built a deep physical and mathematical model” that enabled the understanding of complex systems in fields as diverse as mathematics, biology, neuroscience, and machine learning.

“It is very urgent that we make very strong decisions and move at a very strong pace,” Parisi said on tackling climate change.

“It is clear to future generations that we have to act now,” he said.

Goran Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the winners on Tuesday.

It is common for many scholars working in related fields to share the award.

The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (more than $1.14 million). The prize money comes from a will left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.

The Nobel Committee on Monday awarded a prize in physiology or medicine to Americans David Julius and Erdem Patabutian for their discoveries about how the human body perceives temperature and touch.

In the coming days, prizes will be awarded for outstanding work in the fields of chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

HF