1. Thursday, November 7, 2013, 7 p.m.
The Joseph Priestley Award was
presented by Dickinson College in
memory of Joseph Priestley,
discoverer of oxygen, to a
distinguished scientist whose
work has contributed to the
welfare of humanity. The Priestley
Award, first presented in 1952,
recognizes outstanding
achievement and contribution to
our understanding of science and
the world.
This year Dr. James E Hansen
receives the priestly award. Dr.
Nancy A. Roseman, President of
Dickinson College formally greeted
the audience to the ATS
auditorium. Dr. Gregory J.
Howard, Assistant Professor of
Environmental Studies,
introduced the speaker. Among
others, Dr. Anis Rahman, past
chair of the local section of the
American Chemical Society (ACS)
(www.sepsacs.org) was present at
the event. He formally thanked the
speaker on behalf of the ACS.
Joseph Priestley, discoverer of oxygen

2. Dr. Nancy A. Roseman, President of Dickinson College greeting the audience
Dr. Gregory J. Howard, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies seen in
the audience.

3. Mrs. Christina Van Buskirk, Associate Provost, in the audience
Reception prior to the lecture

4. James E. Hansen receiving the Priestley award from Dr. Nancy A. Roseman,
President of Dickinson College
Speaker bio
Dr. James E. Hansen, former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, is adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, where he
directs the program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions. He was
trained in physics and astronomy in the space science program of James Van
Allen at the University of Iowa. His early research on the clouds of Venus
helped identify their composition as sulfuric acid. Since the late 1970s, he has
focused his research on Earth’s climate, especially human-made climate
change. Hansen is best known for his testimony on climate change to
congressional committees in the 1980s, which helped raise broad awareness of
global warming. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995
and was designated by Time magazine in 2006 as one of the 100 most
influential people on Earth. He has received numerous awards, including the
Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, the Roger Revelle Medal, the Sophie Prize
and the Blue Planet Prize. Hansen is recognized for speaking truth to power,
identifying ineffective policies as greenwash, and outlining actions that the
public must take to protect the future of young people and other life on our
planet.