Professor Harold Lewis: ‘Global Warming Is The Greatest And Most Successful Pseudoscientific Fraud I Have Seen In My Long Life’


Newton: “Fie on you, Hansen, Mann, Jones et al! You are not worthy of the name scientists! May the pox consume your shrivelled peterkins!”

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Here is his letter of resignation to Curtis G. Callan Jr, Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society.

Anthony Watts describes it thus:

This is an important moment in science history. I would describe it as a letter on the scale of Martin Luther, nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door. It is worthy of repeating this letter in entirety on every blog that discusses science.

It’s so utterly damning that I’m going to run it in full without further comment. (H/T GWPF, Richard Brearley).

Dear Curt:
When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence—it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?

How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d’être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.

It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.

So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along with it. For example:

1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has been designed to silence debate

2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it. One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer “explanatory” screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake.

3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all. This is not science; other forces are at work.

4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind—simply to bring the subject into the open.<

5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members’ interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.

6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition.

APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?

I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people’s motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don’t think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I’m not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question.

I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.
Hal

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President’s Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety; Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about decision making)

By James Delingpole
Last updated: October 9th, 2010

Source: The Telegraph

More information:

Kiwigate:

–  Kiwigate: Global Warming Scam Revealed in Court

Climategate:

Climategate: Inventor of Mann-made global warming feels the heat

Climategate: New Revelations

Climategate: Dr. Michael Mann Threatens Lawsuit Over Satirical YouTube Video

Climategate: The Parliamentary Cover-Up Exposed (Telegraph)

Climategate: Two More Bricks Fall Out Of The IPCC Wall Of Deceit – Rainforests And Polar Bears (Telegraph)

Climategate: Michael Mann’s Very Unhappy ‘Whistleblower’ New Year (Telegraph)

Climategate: Al Gore spews the usual utter nonsense but this time no one believes him (Telegraph)

Climategate: Which part of ‘over’ don’t these people understand? – A quick idiot’s guide to why Climategate does matter (Telegraph)

Climategate and the Tiger Woods Index; Al Gore cancels Copenhagen speaking event (Telegraph)

Lord Christopher Monckton – Climategate: Caught Greenhanded! Cold Facts About The Hot Topic of Global Temperature Change After The Climategate Scandal

Climategate: It’s all unravelling now! (Telegraph)

Climategate: Follow the Money (The Wall Street Journal)

Climategate scandal claims its first big political scalp (Telegraph)

Climategate: Googlegate?! (Telegraph)

Lord Cristopher Monckton on Climategate: Shut Down The UN, Arrest Al Gore

Climategate: This is the worst scientific scandal of our generation (Telegraph)

Climategate: The great climate change science scandal (The Times)

Climategate Scandal: The Whitewash Begins (Telegraph)

Climategate: Hacked emails include calls for ‘Earth Government’ as foundation of new world order, splitting of America

Lord Christopher Monckton on Climategate: ‘They Are Criminals’

Climategate: George Monbiot – aka the Great Moonbat – makes it all suddenly OK through medium of satire (Telegraph)

Climategate: Scientists Would Rather Change Facts Than Their Theories (RT)

Climategate on Lateline: Private climate documents hacked, published

Climategate Bombshell: Dr. Tim Ball on the hacked CRU emails

Climategate: The Day Science Died (TBR)

Climategate: how the MSM reported the greatest scandal in modern science (Telegraph)

Climategate: CRU director admits the emails flying all over the internet appear to be genuine (Herald Sun)

Climategate: The Final Nail in The Coffin of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’?! (Telegraph)

Global warming is a scam:

–  Dr Rajendra Pachauri’s charity accounts ‘ANOMALIES’

Global Cooling and the New World Order:

“The 58th Bilderberg Meeting will be held in Sitges, Spain 3 – 6 June 2010. The Conference will deal mainly with Financial Reform, Security, Cyber Technology, Energy, Pakistan, Afghanistan, World Food Problem, Global Cooling, Social Networking, Medical Science, EU-US relations.”

Yep, that’s right. Global Cooling.

‘Climate change sceptics have smaller members, uglier wives, dumber kids’ says new study made up by warmists

Leading Scientist Warns of Ice Age: ‘Most of Europe Will Be Under Ice’

Met Office blocked role of leading scientist in ‘hockey stick’ climate change row

Godfrey Bloom Exposes the Global Warming Scam (European Parliament, Strasbourg, 20.01.2010)

Lord Christopher Monckton reports on Pachauri’s eye opening Copenhagen presentation

Top Scientist: Rise of Sea Levels is ‘The Greatest Lie Ever Told’

Prof. Ian Clark: ‘Rises in C02 lag 800 years behind temperature rises!’ – You will pay taxes for nothing!

Climate crunch: David Bellamy on global warming fraud

Study: CO2 levels remained constant since 1850! (University of Bristol)

What happened to global warming? The warmest year recorded globally was 1998 (BBC News)

Global Warming Expert Prof. Latif: Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade and that we are likely entering “one or even two decades during which temperatures cool.” (The Calgary Herald)

Solar Physicist Predicts Ice Age: “SOLAR CYCLE 24 HAS NOW GONE CLEARLY BELOW DALTON LEVEL.” (The Examiner)

The Great Global Warming Swindle (Documentary)

Ron Paul: Global Warming Petition Signed by 31,478 Scientists (Lew Rockwell)

NASA Study: Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Gobal Warming (DailyTech)

Global warming alarmists out in cold (Herald Sun)

Nobody listens to the real climate change experts (Telegraph)

Climate ‘denial’ is now a mental disorder (Telegraph)

Japan’s boffins: Global warming isn’t man-made (The Register)

Al Gore sued by over 30.000 Scientists for fraud (Video)

World is getting colder: It’s the sun, not CO2, that’s to blame (Washington Times)

Global warning: We are actually heading towards a new Ice Age, claim scientists (Daily Mail)

Scientists find greenhouse gas hysteria to be myth (World Net Daily)

2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved (Telegraph)

Army: Sun, Not Man, Is Causing Climate Change (Wired)

World might be heading towards Ice Age (Economic Times)

Flashback: David Ballamy: ‘BBC shunned Me For Denying Man-Made Global Warming’ (Daily Express)

Follow the money and the New World Order:

Desperate Days For Warmists

Al Gore’s Enormous Carbon Footprint

UK: Climate Change Act has the biggest ever bill (Telegraph)

EU President Herman Van Rompuy Announces 2009 as ‘First Year of Global Governance’

Congressman Ron Paul on the Copenhagen Treaty and the Cyber Security Act: ‘They are doing everything in the world to control the internet.’

Al Gore could become world’s first carbon billionaire

Lord Christopher Monckton: Is President Obama Poised to Surrender the Constitution and US Sovereignty to World Government? (!!!)

EU Proposes €50bn Climate Change Deal Ahead of December’s Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

So global warming is really about the elite finding more ways to take away your freedom and your money!

Education:

–  10:10 – No Pressure (Fascism We Can Take A Bath In!)

Build-A-Bear: The Sinister Green Plot to Turn Our Kids Into Eco-Fascist Manchurian Candidates

Insane British Government Global Warming Ad: Panic, Little Ones, It’s The Carbon Monster

In the news:

What the Chinese really think of ‘Man-Made Global Warming’

Bolivia’s Biggest Ecological Disaster: Cold Kills Estimated 6 Millions And Thousands of Alligators, Turtles And River Dolphins

Argentina Has Colder Winter Than Antartica, Spurring Record Energy Imports

Peru Declares State Of Emergency Amid Freezing Temperatures, Hundreds Of Children Die

Mongolia: Winter of ‘White Death’ Devastated Nomads’ Way of Life

Mongolian herders lost millions of animals because of extreme cold

Spain: Heaviest Snowfall in Decades Leaves 250,000 Without Power

Met Office: British winter was the coldest for 31 years

US ‘Snowmageddon’: Hundreds of Thousands Remain Without Power in Washington DC

Florida: Manatees die in record numbers from cold

Florida Freeze Destroys Estimated 70% of Southwest Vegetable Crop

UK: Gas supply rationed as temperature drops to -21C

Winter Chaos Around The World

Beijing and Seoul Hit by Heaviest Snow in More Than Half Century

Britain is facing one of the coldest winters in 100 years, experts predict

NCDC: 250 Snowfall Records So Far In 2009; This December Shapes Up to be the Coldest on Record

US Blizzard: Christmas Misery for Millions; Oklahoma State of Emergency (Video)

Blizzard Blasts Eastern US: Hundreds of Thousands of Homes Without Power

Snowing on Copenhagen’s Global Warmist Parade

US East Coast faces severe winter storm

US ‘Monster’ Winter Storm Resembles Wintery Hurricane With Blizzard Conditions

US: Cheyenne records snowiest October on record

Autumn record-setting snowstorm wallops Rockies, Plains

US: Freak Summer Storm Dumps Snow in Yonkers

Nature knows exactly how to deal with CO2:

Carbon Dioxide Air Fertilization Improves Plant Growth and Quality, Cuts Operating Costs While Increasing Production

If you really want to change the climate on this planet then:

Environment: Solar plant yields water and crops from the desert

Greening the Desert

2 thoughts on “Professor Harold Lewis: ‘Global Warming Is The Greatest And Most Successful Pseudoscientific Fraud I Have Seen In My Long Life’”

  1. To all of you prople that think global warming is not real. Then you are saying that the polar ice caps are not shrinking, the glaciers are not melting and the sea levels are not rising?

    If you can believe those things in the face of obvious facts that are easily verified by anyone, you are as stupid as anyone who has ever lived, including all theists, and other delusional mental defectives.

    Reply
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