Kevin Trenberth was the principal author of a pathetic letter to the Wall Street Journal on 1 February 2012. Perhaps Kevin is seeing his life’s work flash past, but he seems rather sensitive about his position in society if his 46 page CV (updated to December 2009) is any guide. Kevin lists himself as a Distinguished Senior Scientist, a rather peculiar title. Now I know academics like to pad their CVs with all sorts of trifling activities, but Trenberth’s goes way beyond the normal CV.
In it he lets us know:
- that he is listed in Who’s Who in America (etc) – not something one should boast about: either you’re listed or not.
- a list of awards including:
- being a recipient of a number of research grants (so what? – anyone who has a job is getting paid),
- being a member of some societies (that’s not an award!),
- delivering an annual lecture at the University of Minnesota in 1998 and other such lectures (again, these are not awards)
- winning the Nobel Peace Prize (with the IPCC) in 2007 (Maybe Al Gore can claim to have won the prize, but it was given to the IPCC not to Kevin Trenberth – if you search for a Nobel laureates on the official Nobel website, Trenberth’s name does not appear (Gore does)).
- then pages upon pages of being on panels, workshops etc (yes, I’ve been to lots of meetings too, but I don’t keep an exhaustive record!)
How much time has the man spent updating this CV? To me Trenberth comes across as self obsessed, suffering from narcissism and hubris. He has also lied about winning a Nobel Prize – surely the ultimate sin for an academic, to falsify a CV?
It must be humiliating to find oneself under attack for the fine research evident in the CV, with the climate change doctrine crumbling from within.
UPDATE:
JC writes:
I think he is a part recipient of the Nobel Prize for being on the IPCC. All participants indirectly received it.
But when you check the Nobel website, it is clear that the award is made to the IPCC and to Al Gore. The Nobel lectures were delivered by Gore and Pachauri. The Press Release also does not mention any other IPCC staff member. While Pachauri might have said in his speech that he is accepting it on behalf of the staff, it has not been awarded in such a way. Trenberth has no more claim to having received a Nobel Prize than a cleaner or typist in the IPCC.
Most of those are pretty much well-known vanity-press scams. They want you to buy the book &/or the plaque which lists you as a “Who’s Who in [Whatever]“. They do include a lot of truly distinguished people, sure, but then they send out thousands upon thousands of solicitations to fairly mediocre folk (I know this – I’ve got one or two myself) whereby promising to buy the book/plaque/certificate pretty much guarantees you inclusion as well.
Oh dear.
spot
22 Feb 12 at 2:37 am
Samuel
I think he is a part recipient of the Nobel Prize for being on the IPCC. All participants indirectly received it. But you would stick that on bio. You would simply say you on the IPCC detailing the work done.
I’m more concerned with man’s appalling and when I say appalling, I man appalling grasp of economics by suggesting that sludge about a cleaner energy world will mean more economic growth in the ridiculous letter he wrote in which he referred to himself in the third person. The man is a complete fool.
Every single one of these louts at the top of the climate science tree is a political advocate and narcissistic dickhead.
JC
22 Feb 12 at 3:05 am
46 freaking pages long, what a NZ yokel!
JC
22 Feb 12 at 3:07 am
Lucy Kellaway (Financial Times) reminded me recently of a great example of a concise CV:
“Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States”.
Says more than 46 pages of CV.
Samuel J
22 Feb 12 at 4:08 am
Nice little piece on the uncertainties of climate models at Quadrant on Line.
Rafe
22 Feb 12 at 8:31 am
Einfeld had a long CV too.
cohenite
22 Feb 12 at 8:55 am
46 pages for a CV? That’s not just a little padding, that’s obesity.
Gab
22 Feb 12 at 8:58 am
Yasser Arafat’s chaufeur has as much right to call himself a Nobel Prize winner as Trenberth.
Bill
22 Feb 12 at 9:21 am
Travesty Trenberth. Going, going…..
James of the Glen
22 Feb 12 at 9:45 am
I have a short version (1 page) and a long one (2 pages).
I’ve got quals, publications, private sector work, working papers, references, personal details etc. It is really quite condensed.
(I met a senior academic yesterday who said his new Dean wasn’t happy with an average of four papers a year [three book chapters in 2010 and five journal articles in 2011...]) but if your CV is 46 pages long and you haven’t won the nobel on your own – you’re full of shit.
If Trenbath has been working for 40 years, he could have done six papers a year. He’s so full of it.
.
22 Feb 12 at 9:52 am
Another way to think of it is under the Australian university system, Trenbath could have become a professor in 12 different fields. Um okay.
.
22 Feb 12 at 9:54 am
The IPCC AR4 included the names of scientists whose work didn’t follow the narrative of the AR4 theme. Their findings were not published of course, but their names were.
I wonder if the vain-glorious Trenberth considers them “winners” as well.
James of the Glen
22 Feb 12 at 10:29 am
Let’s not forget, the Nobel Prize is for
PoliticsPeace, not anything academic. From the press release…“Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth’s resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world’s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.”
In other words… ASSUMING man made climate change is real AND ASSUMING it has a negative impact on climate AND ASSUMING that leads to large scale human migration AND ASSUMING that would lead to a resource war AND ASSUMING man can stop climate change AND ASSUMING that would stop wars sometime maybe in the future THEN Gore and the IPCC deserve the peace prize NOW for providing some information for others act upon later.
And Treberth wants to steal credit for that!
Chistery
22 Feb 12 at 10:42 am
What is it about people called Kevin?
Mother Hubbard's Dog
22 Feb 12 at 10:52 am
IIRC, Trenberth was an originator of the global warming movement. There was a meeting ca. 1983 (including Schneider?) where various activist scientists decided that the “coming Ice Age” scare of the 1970s was a bust and global warming was the way to go.
Wish I could find a link.
It didn’t gain a lot of traction until 1988 when the US had an extremely hot summer and Hansen in a moment of genius had the airconditioning switched off during his congressional testimony on the subject.
braddles
22 Feb 12 at 11:38 am
Hell, I’m a member of Gold Key National Honour Society on the basis of my high GPA. An elite group of high achievers. Waste of $25 I now know. Would you like fries with that?
bruce
22 Feb 12 at 12:45 pm
The Nobel Peace Prize is also political and has, in accordance with Alfred Nobel’s will, been awarded by a committee of five, appointed by the Storting (the Norwegian Parliamant). Up till now, every member of this committee has been a Norwegian citizen.
The claim that scientists who have written, edited or reviewed reports have a share in the Peace Prize is common. A number of scientists have been described in this way in my local paper, The Canberra Times, and as far as I know they appear to accept that description.
John B of Canberra
22 Feb 12 at 3:10 pm
[...] As I previously noted, Kevin Trenberth has falsely claimed to be a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Trenberth is not the only person to make such a claim. [...]
The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize at Catallaxy Files
23 Feb 12 at 9:01 pm