Fred Singer

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Siegfried Frederick Singer (born September 27, 1924 in Vienna) is an atmospheric physicist. In 1959 he was selected as one of "Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation" by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. He was involved in designing one of the first instruments used in a satellite to measure ozone [link].

He is President of the Science & Environmental Policy Project, a non-profit policy research group disputing climate change and ozone depletion theory, which he founded in 1990. He is also Distinguished Research Professor at George Mason University and Professor Emeritus of environmental science at the University of Virginia, and an Adjunct Fellow of "Frontiers of Freedom" [link].

He is known for his skeptical views about greenhouse gas induced global warming. Although he considers the observed increase in CO₂ and CFCs to be anthropogenic, he disagrees with IPCC conclusions about how much warming is to be expected. His most recent peer-reviewed publication on global warming was a letter about other scientists' research which appeared in Eos, December 16, 1997.[Unknowns About Climate Variability Render Treaty Targets Premature], EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, Volume 78, page 584, December 16, 1997

He is also skeptical about the connection between CFCs, ozone depletion, ultraviolet radiation and skin cancer. Furthermore, Singer cited a report of the Congressional Research Service that supported the position of the tobacco industry. It attacked the US Environmental Protection Agency for their study about the cancer risks of passive smoking and called it "junk science". [link], [link]. A nonsmoker himself, Singer serves on the Science Advisory Board of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), which strongly opposes smoking.

Environmentalists arguing against Singer's ideas say that he has a conflict of interest, i.e., financial ties to oil companies [link], [link].

In 1994 Singer was Chief Reviewer of the report Science, economics, and environmental policy: a critical examination published by the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI).

This was all part of an attack on EPA regulation on environmental tobacco smoke funded by the Tobacco Institute.

At that time, Mr. Singer was a Senior Fellow with AdTI. (http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2040165575.html)

"The report's principal reviewer, Dr Fred Singer, was involved with the International Center for a Scientific Ecology, a group that was considered important in Philip Morris' plans to create a group in Europe similar to The Advancement for Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), as discussed by Ong and Glantz.

He was also on a tobacco industry list of people who could write op-ed pieces on "junk science," defending the industry's views."

"On Feb 12, 2001, Singer wrote a letter to The Washington Post in which he denied receiving any oil company money in the previous 20 years when he had consulted for the oil industry."

He holds a PhD in physics and is a fellow of the American Physical Society. The famous theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler was Singer's advisor.

Previous government and academic positions:

• Director of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Maryland (1953-62)
• Special advisor to President Eisenhower on space developments (1960) [4]
• First Director of the National Weather Satellite Service (1962-64)
• Founding Dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences, University of Miami (1964-67)
• Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water Quality and Research, U.S. Department of the Interior (1967- 70)
• Deputy Assistant Administrator for Policy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1970-71)
• Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia (1971-94)
• Chief Scientist, U.S. Department of Transportation (1987- 89)

References