Dr Charles David Keeling (April 20 1928 - June 20 2005) professor of oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography is best known for his work on the Keeling Curve of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. At a White House ceremony held in July 1997, Dr. Keeling was presented with a "special achievement award" from Vice President Al Gore. Dr. Keeling was honored "for 40 years of outstanding scientific research associated with monitoring of atmospheric carbon dioxide in connection with Mauna Loa Observatory." President George W. Bush selected Keeling to receive the National Medal of Science in 2002, the highest US award for scientific research lifetime achievement.

Keeling also studied the role of oceans in modulating atmospheric concentration of CO₂ by making extremely accurate measurements of CO₂ dissolved in seawater. He also showed that vegetation was taking up CO₂ earlier in the season than before, evidence that spring was earlier in the northern hemisphere.

Biography

Keeling was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated while majoring in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1948 and took a PhD in 1954. He was a postdoctoral fellow in geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology until he joined Scripps Institution in 1956, and was appointed professor of oceanography there in 1968.

Keeling was a Guggenheim fellow at the Meteorological Institute, University of Stockholm (1961-62); a guest professor at the Second Physical Institute of the University of Heidelberg (1969-70) and the Physical Institute of the University of Bern (1979-80). Keeling received an award from the American Meteorology Society in 1980, the Maurice Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union in 1991, and the Blue Planet Prize from Japan's Science Council in 1993.

He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

He was a member of the commission on global pollution of the International Association of Meteorology, and scientific director of the Central CO₂ Calibration Laboratory of the World Meteorological Organisation.

External links

• http://cdiac.ornl.gov/new/keel_page.html
• Guardian obituary

1928 births | 2005 deaths | Oceanographers

Charles David Keeling