Willie Soon
milhayser | April 20, 2015In the wake of the Willie Soon scandal, scientists are taking a hard look at the Smithsonian and other institutions at the forefront of research and public outreach. Should these organizations really be supported by industrialists who deny that carbon emissions continue to warm the planet, disrupt the climate, amplify extreme weather, and threaten to swallow us in a deluge of melted ice and presumably locusts? For that matter, should exhibits on evolution be subject to the whims of donors who insist the Earth is only six thousand years old? If not, where will less ideologically tainted money…
gregladen | March 4, 2015Raúl Grijalva Investigates
Raúl Grijalva is the US representative from Arizona’s 3rd congressional district, a Democrat, and a supporter of environmental initiatives. As the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, he recently sent letters to seven universities requesting documents related to the background of climate change research, as a response to recent revelations in the New York Times of seemingly inappropriate failure to disclose industry funding sources by Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics researcher Willie Soon. These letters requested the following:
The…
gregladen | March 3, 2015And by "me" I mean all the children of future generations.
Willie Soon is a soft-money scientist at Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who has been producing highly questionable 'science' casting, for several years, faux light on the reality of the human caused process of global warming. It appears that most or all of Soon's funding came directly or indirectly from the fossil fuel industry or supporters of that industry. (See also John Mashy's comment below about tax breaks.) Recently the dung has struck the rotating blades and the nexus of denialist 'science,' fossil fuel funding…
gregladen | March 2, 2015If you have not been living in a cave, and had you been, I’d respect that, you know about Willie Soon Gate. Willie soon is a researcher on soft money at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Soon is well known for producing research of questionable quality that anemically attempts to buck the scientific consensus that human caused greenhouse gas pollution is rapidly raising the Earth’s temperature. Soon’s links to the fossil fuel industry have been known for some time, but recently, he has gotten into even more hot water over having published papers without properly disclosing that…
gregladen | February 23, 2015The following statement was issued this afternoon by the Smithsonian:
Smithsonian Statement on Willie Soon, researcher at the Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory.
The Smithsonian is greatly concerned about the allegations surrounding Dr. Willie Soon’s failure to disclose funding sources for his climate change research.
The Smithsonian is taking immediate action to address the issue: Acting Secretary Albert Horvath has asked the Smithsonian Inspector General to review the matter. Horvath will also lead a full review of Smithsonian ethics and disclosure policies governing the conduct of…
gregladen | February 23, 2015The Willie Soon Story broke on Saturday night, having cloned off the front page of the Sunday New York Times into a few secondary sources. But we all saw it coming. Since then there has been quite a bit more written and there will be quite a bit more.
The main thing I want to add to the discussion is this. It is clear that Willie Soon was taking piles of Big Fossil money for his climate research. It is clear that his research was widely discredited in the mainstream scientific community. It should have been easy to check to see if he was using the money properly (mainly, with respect to…
gregladen | February 21, 2015A few days ago I suggested that Willie Soon's career may be taking a nose dive soon. I was right. Tomorrow's New York Times has a story that has as many leaks as an old canoe, so we can see it now in various outlets. The story is out and linked to below.
Before going into detail I just want to note that Justin Gillis is doing a great job at the New York Times.
Anyway, you can read the following items, the most recent listed here:
Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for a Doubtful Climate Scientist
Willie Soon Gate
Willie Soon, will he soon be fired?
It really looks like Willie Soon has been paid…
gregladen | January 31, 2015The Willie Soon Controversy
There’s been a lot of talk about the Willie Soon Controversy. Bottom line: Soon was an author on a paper that failed to disclose his extensive funding by the petroleum industry and its friends (over a million dollars to date, I believe) as required. I don’t have time to craft a detailed expose or commentary, but I wanted to get a bunch of resources in one place. I should mention that this is not all about Willie Soon, but rather, about climate science denialists more generally, a few specific others besides Soon, about how crap gets published now and then much to…
illconsidered | May 14, 2010Okay, that's sarcasm. Wille Soon is featured in an interview on the Examiner.com website, but grilling is hardy how to describe the pathetic softballs Kir Meyers throws, rather rolls, his way.
Here are a few of the questions he asked:
Many of the scientists promoting the global warming theory appear to be driven by politics rather than hard scientific data. What are your thoughts?
What needs to be done to combat the strong-arm tactics being used against scientists who disagree with the AGW theory?
What is your opinion of Al Gore?
Really not much more to say about that...