Robert Earl Dickinson (born 26 March 1940,
Millersburg, Ohio
Millersburg is a village and the county seat of Holmes County, Ohio, United States located south of Cleveland. The population was 3,025 at the 2010 census. Holmes County Airport, located two miles southwest of Millersburg, serves the county.
...
) is an American meteorologist and geoscientist.
Dickinson studied
chemistry and
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
with a bachelor's degree completed in 1961. As a graduate student, he studied meteorology at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) with a master's degree in 1962 and Ph.D. in 1966. After being a researcher at MIT, he joined in 1968 the
National Center for Atmospheric Research
The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...
(NCAR) in
Boulder, Colorado. There, he co-created the Roble–Dickinson–
Ridley, the first
general circulation model
A general circulation model (GCM) is a type of climate model. It employs a mathematical model of the general circulation of a planetary atmosphere or ocean. It uses the Navier–Stokes equations on a rotating sphere with thermodynamic ter ...
of the
thermosphere
The thermosphere is the layer in the Earth's atmosphere directly above the mesosphere and below the exosphere. Within this layer of the atmosphere, ultraviolet radiation causes photoionization/photodissociation of molecules, creating ions; the ...
;
eventually, he became in 1975 head of the climate division and in 1981 Deputy Director of the Climate and Global Dynamics Division. In 1990 he became a professor at the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
, in 1999 professor at
Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), and since 2008 professor at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
(UT).
He works on
climate model
Numerical climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the important drivers of climate, including atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the c ...
s and computer models of processes in the atmosphere including interactions with the
biosphere
The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also ...
,
global climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, the
carbon cycle
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major componen ...
on land,
remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Eart ...
, and the disappearance of
tropical rain forest
Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...
s.
In 1996, he received the
Vetlesen Prize The Vetlesen Prize is a prize in geology awarded jointly by Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation. The prize is generally regarded as the highest distinction in geologic studies, and the " Nob ...
and the
Revelle Medal from the
American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...
(AGU) and in 1997 the
Rossby Award from the
American Meteorological Society
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance th ...
(AMS). He is a member of the
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) (1988) and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2002, he was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...
for pioneering contributions to a wide range of topics in atmospheric dynamics and earth system modeling.
In 2006 he became a foreign member of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...
. From 2002 to 2004 he was president of the AGU
Biographies of the presidents of the AGU
He is a Fellow of the AMS, whose Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award he received in 1973. He is an honorary member of the European Geophysical Society
The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet." The organisation has headq ...
(EGS) and the European Geosciences Union
The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet." The organisation has hea ...
(EGU).
References
External links
UT homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Robert E
American meteorologists
1940 births
Living people
Harvard University alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
University of Arizona faculty
Georgia Tech faculty
University of Texas at Austin faculty
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal recipients
People from Millersburg, Ohio