Claude Lorius (1932 - 2023)#
Academia Europaea mourns the death of Professor Claude Lorius, climatologist and member of the Academia Europaea since 1989, who passed away on Tuesday March 21. Professor Lorius's research has had deep impacts transcending the academy, since when he first demonstrated, with Jean Jouzel, the connection between the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and the evolution of climate.
Obituary#
Prof Claude Lorius, a prominent French glaciologist, has passed away at the age of 84. He was known for his pioneering work in studying ice cores and their role in understanding the Earth's climate history.
Prof Lorius was born on August 6, 1932, in Besançon, France. He obtained his doctorate in glaciology from the University of Grenoble in 1960 and began his career at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He later became the director of the French Polar Institute and served as a professor at the University of Paris VI.
He was a trailblazer in the field of paleoclimatology, which seeks to understand the Earth's climate history using geological and other indirect evidence. He led numerous expeditions to Antarctica, where he and his team drilled deep into the ice to extract ice cores that contained a record of the Earth's climate dating back hundreds of thousands of years. Prof Lorius and his team used sophisticated techniques to analyse the ice cores and reconstruct past atmospheric and climate conditions.
His work was instrumental in demonstrating the link between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and global temperatures. His research showed that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were much higher in the past than they had been in recent history, and that this increase in greenhouse gas concentrations was responsible for the warming of the planet. His findings were crucial in shaping our understanding of the human impact on climate change.
Prof Lorius was a member of the Academia Europea, the French Academy of Sciences and received numerous awards and honours throughout his career, including the CNRS Gold Medal, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and the Blue Planet Prize. He was also a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Royal Society of Canada.
Prof Lorius was a dedicated scientist and an inspiration to many in the field of paleoclimatology. He will be deeply missed by his colleagues, students, and the scientific community at large. His legacy will continue to shape our understanding of the Earth's climate and the impact of human activity on the planet.
Professor Mike Burton
Chair of the Earth and Cosmic Sciences section
