Thompson Named One Of Time's "Heroes Of The Environment"

THOMPSON NAMED ONE OF TIME’S “HEROES OF THE ENVIRONMENT”

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State University glaciologist Lonnie Thompson has been singled out by Time magazine as one of the publication’s 30 “Heroes of the Environment” for 2008.

Thompson, a distinguished university professor of earth sciences, was highlighted in the magazine’s October 6 issue as one of six scientists and innovators who are key to addressing global climate change.

“By their example, by their willingness to dedicate themselves to what too many still dismiss as a hopeless cause, these heroes of the environment provide light in the darkness,” the Time editors wrote.

Thompson was nominated for his three decades of research showing that tropical and temperate ice caps around the globe would be among the first harbingers of climate change.  He has led more than 50 expeditions to ice caps and glaciers on five continents, retrieving ice cores that contain a diary of past climate conditions, some dating back farther than 750,000 years.

In 2007, he was awarded the National Medal of Science by U.S. President George W. Bush for his years of research.  Time magazine selected Thompson in 2001 as one of its collection of “America’s Best in Science and Medicine.”

“Honors like this certainly recognize the incredible contribution that has been made by every member of the paleoclimate research group here at Ohio State.”

“I was returning from giving a talk in Auckland, New Zealand, and was surprised when I picked up a copy of the magazine in the airport and saw the citation,” Thompson said.  “Honors like this certainly recognize the incredible contribution that has been made by every member of the paleoclimate research group here at Ohio State.”

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Contact:  Lonnie Thompson, (614) 292-6652; Thompson.3@osu.edu. Written by Earle Holland, (614) 292-8384; Holland.8@osu.edu.