Dr. Richard Alley, a renowned geoscientist and Penn State professor, is one of this year’s recipients of the National Medal of Science. The medal is the highest honor the country can give scientists and engineers for outstanding scientific contributions and groundbreaking discoveries.
Alley’s work involves two-mile thick ice cores.
“You can read a history of climate written in the layers of the ice," Alley said. "You can test your ideas on what causes climate to change and how much climate changes, and what happens to living things in the atmosphere when climate changes.”
Alley, an Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, led a team that removed polar ice core samples in Greenland and Antarctica.
“The sun shines in the summer and it doesn't shine in the winter, and that changes the snow," Alley said. "The isotopic composition, the chemical composition, the electrical characteristics.”
Within those layers are clues to climate change patterns throughout the Earth’s history. Alley discovered key “switches” and “dials” that can lead to abrupt changes to the Earth’s climate.
His research has helped shape Earth science and climate policy throughout the world.
Alley received his National Medal of Science at a ceremony in the White House last week, along with 13 other scientists. He’s the fifth Penn Stater to receive the National Medal of Science.
“Dr. Alley is deeply deserving of this most prestigious honor, and it is heartening to know that our nation sees in him what the Penn State community has known for decades,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “Dr. Alley is the epitome of an exceptional scientist."
Alley credited other faculty members and students who helped in his research.
