Princeton Scientist Wins Nobel Prize For Work On Climate Change

PRINCETON, NJ - Princeton University scientist Syukuro Manabe shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking work over the past 60 years in predicting climate change and decoding complex physical systems.

The announcement was made early Tuesday morning at an event in Stockholm. Manabe will share the Nobel Prize with German Klaus Hasselmann and Italian Giorgio Parisi. Hasselmann is from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and Parisi is from the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. The prize was given “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.”

The Academy said Manabe laid the foundation in the 1960s for today's understanding of Earth's climate.

“Syukuro Manabe demonstrated how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures at the surface of the Earth,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said while announcing the award.

"In the 1960s, he led the development of physical models of the Earth’s climate and was the first person to explore the interaction between radiation balance and the vertical transport of air masses. His work laid the foundation for the development of current climate models.”

The prize amount is 10 million Swedish kroner, or about $1.14 million.

“When I got the phone call this morning, I was so surprised,” Manabe said at a press conference held on Tuesday.

“Usually, the Nobel Prize in physics is awarded to physicists making a fundamental contribution in physics. Yes, my work is based on physics, but it’s applied physics. Geophysics. This is the first time the Nobel Prize has been awarded for the kind of work I have done: the study of climate change.”

Manabe was one of the founding scientists of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), a climate research laboratory which is a joint effort by Princeton University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Manabe was born in 1931 in Shingu, Japan. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1957. In 1963, he came to Princeton to help lead GFDL, and in 1968 became a member of Princeton University’s faculty. Currently, he is the Senior Meteorologist at the University.

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