Editing Bert Bolin

{{Short description|Swedish meteorologist (1925–2007)}}
{{infobox scientist
| name = Bert Bolin 
| image = Bert Bolin 2006 Harry Martinson Society (cropped) CCBY2.jpg
| caption = Bolin in 2006
| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|05|15|df=y}}
| birth_place =  [[Nyköping]], Sweden
| death_date = {{death date and age|2007|12|30|1925|05|15|df=y}}
| death_place =  [[Österskär]], Sweden
| education =  [[Uppsala University]], [[Stockholm University]]
| workplaces =  [[Stockholm University]], European Space Research Organisation
| partner = 
| children = 
|known_for =  First chairman of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]]
}}
'''Bert Rickard Johannes Bolin''' ({{IPA|sv|ˈbæʈː bʊˈliːn|lang}}; 15 May 1925 &ndash; 30 December 2007)<ref name="Obit">{{Citation |newspaper=New York Times |date=4 January 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/obituaries/04bolin.html |title=Bert Bolin, 82, Is Dead; Led U.N. Climate Panel |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis }}</ref> was a Swedish [[meteorologist]] who served as the first chairman of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] (IPCC), from 1988 to 1997. He was professor of meteorology at Stockholm University from 1961 until his retirement in 1990.

==Background==
Bolin was born in [[Nyköping]], Sweden <ref name="rodhe">Rodhe, H. (1991). Bert Bolin and his scientific career, ''Tellus'' '''43AB''' (4), 3&ndash;7.</ref> and graduated from [[Uppsala University]] in 1946. He earned a master's degree in 1949 and a doctorate in 1956, both in meteorology, at [[Stockholm University]].<ref name="Obit"/> During his doctorate he spent a year in 1950 at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton, New Jersey, where he worked with [[Jule Charney]], [[John von Neumann]] and others on the first computerized weather forecast, using [[ENIAC]], the first electronic computer.<ref name=aboutBBCC>Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research, [https://bolin.su.se/index.php/bert-bolin About Bert Bolin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207102927/https://bolin.su.se/index.php/bert-bolin |date=2018-12-07 }}, accessed 7 December 2018</ref>

Bolin's marriage to Ulla Frykstrand ended in divorce in 1979; they had three children: Dan, Karina and Göran.<ref name="Obit"/> Bolin resided in [[Österskär]], northeast of [[Stockholm]] where he also died aged 82. He remained active until shortly before his death.

==Career and awards==
Bolin was professor of meteorology at [[Stockholm University]] 1961&ndash;1990, and involved in international climate research cooperation from the 1960s. Bolin was involved in organising use of the new [[satellite]] tools for climate research, which led to the formation of the ICSU Committee on Atmospheric Sciences (CAS) in 1964, with Bolin becoming its first chairman. CAS started the Global Atmospheric Research Programme (GARP) in 1967, which Bolin also chaired; GARP became the [[World Climate Research Programme]] in 1980.<ref name="aboutBBCC"/>

Bolin served on the [[Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases]]<ref>{{cite book
|title=Climate Change: A Reference Handbook
|url=https://archive.org/details/climatechangeref0000down_v9d6
|url-access=registration
|author=David L. Downie, Kate Brash
|date=September 2008
|publisher=ABC-CLIO 
|isbn=978-1598841527
|quote=Bolin served on the Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases}}</ref> from 1985.  In 1987, the 500-page [[Brundtland Report]] which Bolin was involved with contributed to the setting up of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] (IPCC).<ref name=guardian090108>''The Guardian'', 9 January 2008, [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jan/09/climatechange.mainsection Bert Bolin:Swedish meteorologist who persuaded the world to take climate change seriously]</ref> Under his chairmanship (from 1988 to 1997), the IPCC produced its [[IPCC First Assessment Report|First Assessment Report]] (1990) and [[IPCC Second Assessment Report|Second Assessment Report]] (1995), contributing to the IPCC sharing the 2007 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] with former US vice president [[Al Gore]].<ref name="Obit"/> Bolin was asked to accept the Prize on behalf of the IPCC, but was too ill to attend.<ref name="guardian090108"/> Bolin is credited with bringing together a diverse range of views among the panel's 3,500 scientists into something resembling a consensus.<ref name=sundt>Nick Sundt,{{cite web|url=http://www.globalchange.org/profall/95jul16d.htm |title=IPCC Chairman Ber Bolin Builds Consensus |accessdate=2003-08-13 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20021116101307/http://www.globalchange.org/profall/95jul16d.htm |archivedate=2002-11-16 }} </ref> The first report led to the [[United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change]], and the second to the [[Kyoto Protocol]].<ref name="Obit"/>

He has been scientific director of the European Space Research Organisation (now known as [[European Space Agency]]).<ref name="rodhe"/> He was co-founder of [[Stockholm Environment Institute]] in 1988 and chairman of its board in the 1990s as well as special advisor on climate and energy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2007 |title=Stockholm Environment Institute Annual Report 2007 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/sei-annualreport-2007.pdf |access-date=May 2, 2023}}</ref> 

He received many awards and honors for his work in [[climatology|climate research]], including the [[International Meteorological Organization Prize]] (1981), [[Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal]] (1984), the [[Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement]] (1988), the highest atmospheric science award of the [[American Meteorological Society]], [[Körber European Science Prize]] (1990), the [[Milutin Milankovic Medal]] in 1993,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/milutin-milankovic/ |title= EGU - Awards & medals - Milutin Milankovic Medal |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher= European Geosciences Union |access-date= 18 May 2018 |quote=}}</ref>
and the Blue Planet Prize (1995), often considered as the [[Nobel Prize]] for environmental sciences.<ref name="rodhe"/> He also jointly received the [[Global Environment Facility]]'s 1999 Global Environment Leadership Award.<ref>[http://www.gefweb.org/COUNCIL/GEF_C14/gef_c14_7.pdf GEF's 1999 Global Environment Leadership Award] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715025530/http://www.gefweb.org/COUNCIL/GEF_C14/gef_c14_7.pdf |date=July 15, 2007 }} (PDF file)</ref>  Bolin was a member of the [[Swedish Academy of Sciences|Swedish]], [[Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters|Norwegian]] (from 1975) and [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Russian Academies of Sciences]].<ref name=sundt/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dnva.no/c26849/artikkel/vis.html?tid=26861|title=Utenlandske medlemmer|publisher=[[Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters]]|language=no|access-date=27 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715102608/http://www.dnva.no/c26849/artikkel/vis.html?tid=26861|archive-date=15 July 2007}}</ref>

In November 2007, shortly before his death, Bolin published the partly autobiographical ''A History of the Science and Politics of Climate Change: The Role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change''.<ref name="guardian090108"/> The Bolin Centre for Climate Research at [[Stockholm University]] was named in his memory in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bolin Centre's History - Bolin Centre for Climate Research |url=https://bolin.su.se/about-us/bolin-centre-s-history |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=bolin.su.se}}</ref> 
== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.bolin.su.se/ The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University]

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{{s-bef |before=''none'' }}
{{s-ttl |title=Chairman of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]] |years=1988–1997 }}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolin, Bert}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Stockholm University alumni]]
[[Category:Deaths from stomach cancer in Sweden]]
[[Category:Swedish meteorologists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Stockholm University]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:People from Nyköping]]