Sallie Baliunas

This article is part of the Climate project of Spinwatch.

Sallie Baliunas is an astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian Centre and has been proclaimed as one of Americas 'Outstanding Women Scientists' by Discover Magazine.

Baliunas is linked to the George C Marshall Institute in Washington which received $51,000 from US oil company ExxonMobil for a report which played down the dangers of climate change.

Baliunas herself has also produced many publications which contest the link between increased carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. Her work proposes that instead climate change is caused by sun spots. Her works include 'Combatting Global Warming would be a Waste' and 'Why so hot? Don't Blame Man, Blame the Sun'

In 1998 Baliunas co-wrote an article entitled 'Environmental Effects of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide' which argued for the increased release of carbon dioxide which was mass mailed to US scientists with a petition calling for the rejection of the Kyoto ptotocol.

During the 1990s she also worked with the Global Climate Coalition composed of various interest groups of coal, oil and utility companies which was set up in order to lobby against action on climate change.

Her awards include the Newton Lacey Pierce Prize by the American Astronomical Society, the Petr Beckman Award for Scientific Freedom and the Bok Prize from Harvard University.

Affiliations

Committee for A Constructive Tomorrow - Board member

Footnotes

• Adam, D., "Oil firms fund climate change 'denial'", The Guardian, January 27, 2005

External Resources

• Union of Concerned Scientists, Scientists' Report Documents ExxonMobil’s Tobacco-like Disinformation Campaign on Global Warming Science , 3 January 2007.