Gilbert Newton Plass

Trained at Harvard and Princeton, the physicist Gilbert Plass went on to work at the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Lockheed Aircraft and Ford Motor Company, before joining the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies as its first professor of atmospheric and space science in 1963. In 1968, he became professor of physics and departmental head at Texas A&M University, where he trained a generation of atmospheric scientists.

He is especially remembered for his pioneering work on the greenhouse effect, showing how CO2 concentrations affected the Earth’s radiation balance. As early as 1956, his calculations predicted that a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide would lead to a surface temperature rise of 3.6 degrees Celsius. His computations also showed that CO2 levels would be about 30% higher in 2000 than they were in 1900. Plass’ projections from 70 years ago were eerily prescient.