Twilight at Noon?: Paul Crutzen, Albedo Enhancement, and the Historical Foundations of Geoengineering

• In Event: Technology, Invention, and Infrastructure: From Millstones to Outer Space and Back Again

Abstract

In 2006, the atmospheric chemist Paul Jozef Crutzen (1933-2021) published a pathbreaking and controversial paper in the journal Climatic Change entilted “Albedo Enhancement by Stratospheric Sulfur Injections: A Contribution to Resolve a Policy Dilemma?” Crutzen, who shared the 1995 Noble Prize for Chemistry with Mario J. Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone," devoted his scientific life to studying the complex relationship that certain molecules play in shaping our planetary atmosphere. Any balanced historical study of the evolution of human efforts toward geoengineering must touch upon Crutzen’s work in general, and his 2006 paper in particular. While research on planetary-engineering could be traced back to earlier studies such the United States’ 1965 President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) publication -Restoring the Quality of Our Environment: Report of the Environmental Pollution Panel - Crutzen’s paper provides an important historical moment in the modern evolution of the theory and possible practice of atmopsheric enggineering. My paper examines Crutzen’s work leading up to the 2006 publication, and how his research career on topics such as planetary ozone levels, climate change, nuclear winter, and even his “introduction” of the term “Anthropocene” in 2000 played a role in shaping how he came to see the possibilties for stratospheric geoengineering to recalibrate the reflectivity of the Earth’s atmosphere. Paul Crutzen’s approach to planetary albedo studies, drawing upon his Cold War era research involving modeling of both volcanism and nuclear winter within interrelated United States university and defense research networks, were integral stepping stones to his 2006 Climatic Change paper. Crutzen’s work on the impact of nuclear war/winter on atmospheric dynamics is especially intriguing as we begin wrestling with both the moral and engineering aspects of possible planetary solutions to anthropogenic climate change.

Author

• Gerard James Fitzgerald, University of Stavanger / University of Virginia