Singer, S. Fred (1924-)

CONTROVERSIAL ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICIST, distinguished research professor at George Mason University, emeritus professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia, and founder of the Science and Environmental Policy Project—a policy institution on climate change and environmental issues, S. Fred Singer has been a leading skeptic of the scientific consensus on global warming. He points out that the scenarios pictured by most scientists are alarmist, that computer models reflect real gaps in climate knowledge, and says that future warming will be inconsequential or modest at most. He has also challenged the connection between ultraviolet-B radiation and melanoma and between secondhand smoking and lung cancer. Singer s critics have pointed out that the financial ties of his nonprofit organizations to tobacco and oil companies make Singer a case of clear conflict of interest.

Dr. Singer was born in Vienna on September 27, 1924. He did his undergraduate work in electrical engineering at Ohio State University and holds a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He has served in numerous government and academic positions such as acting as director of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Maryland (1953–62); as special adviser to President Eisenhower on space developments (1960); as first director of the National Weather Satellite Service (1962–64); as founding dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences at the University of Miami (1964–67); as deputy assistant secretary for water quality and research, U.S. Department of the Interior (1967–70); as deputy assistant administrator for policy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1970–71); as professor of environmental sciences, University of Virginia (1971–94), and as chief scientist, U.S. Department of Transportation (1987–89).

To Singer, climate change is not something humans should fear. He argues that the climate has changed constantly throughout this and previous centuries and that people have always successfully adapted to it. In addition, he believes that humans can affect climate at a local level. Yet, whether they can cause global weather changes has still to be proved. Singer has repeatedly claimed that the atmosphere has not warmed up in recent decades. In fact, he has claimed that since 1979, it has slightly cooled down. Surface records that show increases in temperature are not, according to Singer, reliable sources of information, as thermometers tend to be placed in or very near to urban areas, which are traditionally warmer than other locations. Singer claims that models and observations about global warming do not agree. Although climatic models show that there should be an increase of about 1 degree F per decade in the middle troposphere, observations contradict these models. Singer is critical of arguments based on laboratory experiments, as the atmosphere is much more complicated and does [Page 900]not function under controlled circumstances. He recognizes that the increase in atmospheric CO2 might lead to a slight warming, yet he says that this phenomenon is counterbalanced by increased evaporation of the oceans. The production of aerosols also causes cooling, which may counterbalance the effects of carbon dioxide. Yet, although Singer admits that aerosols last for a maximum of few weeks but CO2 stays for decades, he is critical of models emphasizing the role of aerosols in connection to carbon dioxide.

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