BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Prof. Dr. Klaus Hasselmann
Prof. Dr. Klaus Hasselmann, Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology is awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2009 in the category of climate change. The recognition comprises 400 000 EUR and is based on his ground-breaking contributions to the scientific and public understanding of climate change by developing methods that established that recent global warming trends are primarily attributable to human activities.
Prof. Hasselmann was able to develop these insights through his unique combination of mathematical skills and deep understanding of the fundamental properties of the ocean-atmosphere-land system. This formed the basis for his development of a “fingerprinting” method that separated the influence of natural phenomena from that of anthropogenic accumulations of atmospheric greenhouse gases. This landmark research overcame the prior difficulty of discriminating between human impacts and natural contributions to observed climate change.
His research findings were central to the recent (2007) assessment of human impacts by Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His sustained efforts also have played a key role in forging a widely-recognized research community on climate change.
Prof. Hasselmann directed the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg from 1975 to 1999. After studying Physics and Mathematics at the University of Hamburg, he received a doctorate in Physics from the University of Göttingen in 1957. He has been professor at Hamburg University, at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and at Woods Hole Oceanographic Laboratory in the USA from 1961 to 1972. Presently he is Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Prof. Hasselmann received numerous awards for his scientific work in climate research and oceanography, e.g., the Umweltpreis of the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt in 1998. In 2002 he received the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal of the European Geosciences Union.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards are intended to recognize and promote research of excellence. In prize money amounts the BBVA awards are second only to the Nobel. The breadth of disciplines addressed and their monetary amount – a combined purse of 3.2 million EUR spread over eight prize categories – place them among the world’s foremost award schemes. As the only award considering the category of climate change, it honours research in this particular field as well as practical activities and initiatives to tackle global change which has become one of the most important social issues of the 21st century. This is the second year of the climate change award. In 2008 it was won by the American scientist Wallace S. Broecker.
The BBVA Foundation supports knowledge generation, scientific research and the promotion of culture, relaying the results of its work to society at large. This effort materializes in research projects, human capital investment, specialization courses, grants and awards. Among the Foundation’s preferred areas of activity are basic sciences, biomedicine, ecology and conservation biology, the social sciences and literary and musical creation.
More information (download pdf):
PowerPoint presentation about Prof. Hasselmann
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Klaus Hasselmann
Phone: +49 (0)4651/30339
Mobile phone: +49 (0)170/9101601
Email: 
klaus.hasselmann@zmaw.de
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