Awards & Achievements
Distinguished University Professor
2000-2001 Recipient - Jan Veizer
Geologist Jan Veizer, professor at the University of Ottawa and Ruhr University in Germany, has focused his research in several areas of geochemistry over the past decade. His recent work involves quantification of biogeochemical cycles in riverine systems, particularly the nature of the riverine carbon cycle and the fate of carbon dioxide. On December 7, 2000, he published an article in the prestigious Nature magazine that launched a major debate on the role of CO2 in climate change. Conventional wisdom holds that carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas causing climate change. Veizer’s article, written in collaboration with researchers at the University of Liège in Belgium, used historical data to examine the role of water vapor in climate change, and put this conventional wisdom in doubt.