Benjamin David Santer

About Benjamin's Work

Benjamin Santer is an atmospheric scientist and physicist whose research in climate modeling and greenhouse-gas effects supports the hypothesis that human activity contributes to global warming.

In 1995, Santer led a crucial working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international review of the evidence regarding anthropogenic effects. He wrote the consensus opinion that "the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on climate." His leadership and scientific skill demonstrated that several climatic models could produce a "fingerprint" of climate change that emerges from recent records.

Biography

Santer has been a research scientist in the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) of the Energy and Environment Directorate at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, since 1992. From 1980 to 1983, he worked as a project engineer for a German subcontractor developing climatic models for the German government, the European Community, and NATO. In addition, he served as a research associate on projects at the University of East Anglia in England for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Santer received a B.Sc. (1976), a Ph.D. (1987) from the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Max-Planck Institut fur Meterologie, Hamburg, Germany (1987-92).

Last updated January 1, 2005