Reid A. Bryson (Deceased)

Credentials

• Ph.D. in meteorology from University of Chicago in 1948.¹“Pioneer of climatology dies at 88.” University of Wisconsin-Madison News. June 12, 2008.
• B.A. in geology at Denison University in 1941.²“Pioneer of climatology dies at 88.” University of Wisconsin-Madison News. June 12, 2008.

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 on June 11, 2008. He was a professor emeritus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.³“Pioneer of climatology dies at 88,” University of Wisconsin-Madison, June 12, 2008. Archived November 28, 2019. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/jdeT8

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.”⁴“Weather Forecast for the Future?” Lakeland Ledger, December 29, 1974. Retrieved from news.google.com. Archived at DeSmog.

Stance on Climate Change

May 2007

Bryson was quoted in “The Faithful Heretic,” an interview posted by the Wisconsin Energy Cooperative.

“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.”⁵“The Faithful Heretic.” Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News. May 2007. Archived May 8, 2007.

Key Quotes

2008

Bryson wrote an article on what he claimed were “some common fallcies” about climate change, which was posted at the ICECAP website:

“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.”⁶“Global Warming?” (PDF). ICECAP.

May 2007

Discussing the impact of carbon dioxide in his article at the Wisconsin Energy Cooperative, Bryson claimed:

“You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.”⁷“The Faithful Heretic.” Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News. May 2007. Archived May 8, 2007.

Key Deeds

Dec 20, 2008

Bryson’s name appeared on a U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee report used by Senator James Inhofe as supposed evidence of “more than 700 international scientists” dissenting over man-made global warming.⁸“U. S. Senate Minority Report: More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008 & 2009” (PDF), U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, March 16, 2009. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

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.”⁹“Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” SPPI, December 14, 2007. Archived March 26, 2010. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/YMMBt

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 Bryson 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.

Other Resources

• “Reid Bryson,” SourceWatch Profile.

Resources

• 1
  “Pioneer of climatology dies at 88.” University of Wisconsin-Madison News. June 12, 2008.
• 2
  “Pioneer of climatology dies at 88.” University of Wisconsin-Madison News. June 12, 2008.
• 3
  “Pioneer of climatology dies at 88,” University of Wisconsin-Madison, June 12, 2008. Archived November 28, 2019. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/jdeT8
• 4
  “Weather Forecast for the Future?” Lakeland Ledger, December 29, 1974. Retrieved from news.google.com. Archived at DeSmog.
• 5
  “The Faithful Heretic.” Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News. May 2007. Archived May 8, 2007.
• 6
  “Global Warming?” (PDF). ICECAP.
• 7
  “The Faithful Heretic.” Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News. May 2007. Archived May 8, 2007.
• 8
  “U. S. Senate Minority Report: More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008 & 2009” (PDF), U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, March 16, 2009. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
• 9
  “Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” SPPI, December 14, 2007. Archived March 26, 2010. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/YMMBt