I came across a chapter in a book about political suppression of science.
The Revelle-Gore story
Fred S Singer had to take out a libel suit against Dr. Justin Lancaster to stop him defaming him. It was about an article Singer had co-authored with Roger Revelle. It was embarrassing for Al Gore, who claimed Revelle had introduced him to the problem of climate change, but Revelle was saying the scientific base for greenhouse warming was too uncertain to justify drastic action.
Singer details his story here: The Revelle-Gore story.
Here are some key points.
Dr. Roger Revelle was one of the outstanding oceanographers of the twentieth-century. As part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957, Dr. Revelle started the groundbreaking measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide that led him and colleagues at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, to conclude that not all carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels would be quickly transferred into the ocean and some might accumulate in the atmosphere. And indeed, as the measurements soon showed, atmospheric CO2 was increasing steadily, with only about half absorbed in the ocean.
In 1991 an article was published by Revelle, Singer and Starr, “What to Do About Greenhouse Warming: Look Before You Leap,”. Their main conclusion was a simple message: “The scientific base for a greenhouse warming is too uncertain to justify drastic action at this time. There is little risk in delaying policy responses.” It echoes almost precisely Dr. Revelle’s words in letters to members of Congress following hearings in the (very hot) summer of 1988, in which concerns about global warming were raised. One of his letters went to then-Congressman Tim Wirth, who chose not to heed Revelle’s advice and, as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, became a close ally of Vice President Gore in promoting the drastic restrictions on fossil fuel use embodied in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 Rio Climate Treaty.
Senator Al Gore had been a student of Revelle and referred to him as a mentor in his book (Earth in the Balance), claiming Revelle had introduced him to the problem of climate change. This article was therefore very inconvenient, and receiving attention by journalists.
When the difference between Senator Gore’s book and Dr. Revelle’s article was raised during the 1992 vice presidential debate, Senator Gore deflected it, sputtering that Dr. Revelle’s views had been “taken completely out of context.”
It was after this that Dr Lancaster began to ask/demand Revelle’s authorship (who by this time had died) be revoked. Read the full story in the article.