Thomas Stocker, former Co-Chair of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has been awarded the 2017 Marcel Benoist Swiss Science Prize – popularly known as the “Swiss Nobel”. Stocker was awarded the prize for his work on climate modelling and ice core analysis, which demonstrated the reality of climate change and its resulting consequences.
“In keeping with the objects of the Foundation, his research findings are of great importance to human life, and address one of the main challenges facing today’s society,” said the Marcel Benoit Foundation in its citation.
The current head of the Climate and Environmental Physics Division of the Physics Institute of the University of Bern, Stocker is a key player in climate research on the national and international level. In his field, he is one of the most widely cited scientists in Switzerland, and he is the author and co-author of more than 200 scientific articles.
Born in 1959, Stocker was elected in 2008 as Co-Chair of the IPCC’s Working Group I, which assesses the physical science basis of climate change. In this role he jointly led the preparation of the Working Group I contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report, which was finalized in 2013.