Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone, President of the US National Academy of Sciences and Chair of the US National Research Council, gave a lecture at Academia Sinica on March 25 entitled “Global Climate Change Forced by Greenhouse Gases from Human Activities”. Before his lecture, Academia Sinica President Chi-huey Wong presented Dr. Cicerone with an Academia Sinica Honorary Academician’s golden pin. Dr. Cicerone was made an Honorary Academician of Academia Sinica in 2010. On March 26, Dr. Cicerone conducted a second lecture entitled “Protecting the Ozone Layer is Easier than Stabilizing Earth’s Climate: Economics and Politics” at National Taiwan University.

         In recent years, global climate change has become a major cause for concern worldwide, and scientists in many fields have turned their attention towards finding solutions to the ensuing problems. On his second visit to Taiwan Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone gave two lectures on causes and strategies for coping with climate change.

         Dr. Cicerone’s research focuses on atmospheric chemistry, the radiative forcing of climate change due to trace gases, and the sources of atmospheric methane, nitrous oxide, and methyl halide gases. His scientific work has involved him in shaping science and environmental policy nationally and internationally and he has won numerous awards. In 1999, the Franklin Institute recognized his fundamental contributions to the understanding of greenhouse gases and ozone depletion and his public policy leadership in protecting the global environment with its Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science, one of the highest honors in science. In 2001, he led a National Academy of Science Study of the current state of climate change, requested by President G. W. Bush. In 2002, the American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest society of earth scientists, awarded Dr. Cicerone the Roger Revelle Medal for outstanding research contributions to the understanding of the Earth’s atmospheric processes, biogeochemical cycles, and key elements of the climate system. In 2004, the World Cultural Council honored him with the Albert Einstein World Award in Science.

         Prior to becoming NAS president, Cicerone was the Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine from 1998 to 2005. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Among his many appointments, he was the American Geophysical Union president (1992-1994), served as one of the US Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board members (2009-2013), and is a trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.