​Reid A. Bryson

Credentials  

• Ph.D. in meteorology from University of Chicago in 1948.
• B.A. in geology at Denison University in 1941. 

Source: [1]

 Background

Reid Bryson was an atmospheric scientist, geologist, and meteorologist. He was a prominent skeptic and hero to the skeptical science community. He passed away in June, 2008. He was a professor emeritus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Bryson was an early proponent of global cooling. He described fears that global cooling would produce food shortages, saying that “the climate of earth is changing and is changing in a direction that is not promising in terms of our ability to feed the world.”

Stance on Climate Change

• "All this argument is the temperature going up or not, it’s absurd…Of course it’s going up. It has gone up since the early 1800s, before the Industrial Revolution, because we’re coming out of the Little Ice Age, not because we’re putting more carbon dioxide into the air." [2]

Key Quotes

"You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide." [2]

"There are a number of causes of climatic change, and until all causes other than carbon dioxide increase are ruled out, we cannot attribute the change to carbon dioxide alone." [3]

Key Deeds 

Dec 20, 2008

Bryson's name appeared on a U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee report, (PDF) among other scientists disputing man-made global warming.

Dec 13, 2007

Bryson was a signatory to the 2007 open letter to secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon that stresses how “Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity's real and pressing problems.”

Dec 6, 2007

Appeared on the CNBC's "Squawk Box" program where he discussed the "Myth of a Warming Earth":

Affiliations  

• Senator James Inhofe — Inhofe frequently cited Bryson on climate change issues and was prominently presented on Inhofe's list of 400 skeptical scientists. 

 Publications

Books:

• Reid A. Bryson and TJ Murray, Climates of Hunger: Mankind and the Changing Weather (University of Wisconsin Press, 1977).

• Reid A. Bryson and FK Hare, Climates of North America (New York. Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co. 1974.)

Articles:

• Reid. A. Bryson. "A Perspective on Climatic Change." Science, 184, no. 4138 (April, 1974): 753-760.

• Reid. A. Bryson and BM Goodman. "Volcanic Activity and Climatic Changes." Science, 207, no. 4435 (March, 1980): 1041-1044.

 Resources

1. "Pioneer of climatology dies at 88." University of Wisconsin-Madison News. June 12, 2008.

2. "The Faithful Heretic." Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News. May, 2007.

3. "Global Warming?" (PDF). ICECAP.

4. "Reid Bryson," SourceWatch Profile.