Ian Plimer
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Ian R. Plimer Ph.D. is an Australian geologist and academic. He is a prominent critic of creationism and of the theory of human-induced global warming. He has published over 120 academic papers and six popular books.
Plimer is currently Professor of Geology at the University of Adelaide. He was previously a Professor in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He is also a prominent member of the Australian Skeptics. He was awarded the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2004.
Plimer grew up in Sydney, educated at Gordon Public School and Normanhurst Boys' High School.[1]
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[edit] Critic of creationism
Plimer is an outspoken critic of creationism and is famous for a debate with creationist Duane Gish in which he asked his opponent to hold live electrical cables to prove that electromagnetism was 'only a theory'. But his debating style has been criticised as counterproductive by some of his fellow anticreationists. In the late 1990s, Plimer was involved in legal proceedings against creationist Allen Roberts arising from Plimer's attacks on Roberts' claims concerning the location of Noah's Ark, in which Plimer was ultimately unsuccessful. Plimer and the Australian Skeptics have been subjected to much criticism from creationist organisations including Answers in Genesis for alleged intentionally deceptive statements.[1]
Creationist oranizations are particlarly harsh in their the criticism of Plimer's correspondence shortly after his debates with Gish, in which he wrote, "if you were at the debates in Sydney (18.3.88) or Brisbane (30.3.88), you would surely have noticed an entourage of young people (principally boys) accompanying Gish and who continually touched him. This is commensurate with testimony from elsewhere which throws enlightenment on Gish's personal life and which makes Jimmy Swaggart look like a moral guardian of the faith." Plimer later claimed that "no sexual implication [was] intended by the quoted passage."[2]
[edit] Climate change
Plimer is also critical of what he sees as irrational elements within the environmental movement. He is critical of greenhouse gas politics and argues that extreme environmental changes are inevitable and unavoidable. He suggests that meteorologists have a huge amount to gain from climate change research, and that they have narrowed the climate change debate to the atmosphere - Plimer claims that the truth is more complex. He suggests that money would be better directed to dealing with problems as they occur rather than making expensive and futile attempts to prevent climate change.
He differs markedly from the climate change consensus in contending that the Great Barrier Reef will benefit from rising seas, that there is no correlation between carbon dioxide levels and temperature, that only 0.1 % of carbon dioxide emissions are due to human activities, and that 96% of the greenhouse effect is due to water vapour.
He claims that the current theory of human-induced global warming is not in accord with history, archaeology, geology or astronomy and must be rejected, and that promotion of this theory as science is fraudulent, and that the current alarmism on climate change is not science.[2][3]
[edit] Awards, Fellowships and Prizes
- Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
- Eureka Prizes (x2)
- Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
- Fellow Geological Society
- Clarke Medal
- Leopod von Buch Plakette
[edit] Bibliography
- Telling Lies for God - Reason vs Creationism, Ian Plimer, Random House, Sydney, 1994 (ISBN 0-09-182852-X)
- A Short History of Planet Earth, Ian Plimer, ABC Books, 2001 Paperback (ISBN 0-7333-1004-4)
[edit] References
- ^ Johnson, Anne. "The coffin, the Ark & the Prof", The Sunday Mail, 2006-05-28. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
- ^ Lippard, Jim. "How Not to Argue with Creationists." Creation/Evolution 11.2(1991): 9-21.
[edit] External links
- University of Melbourne biography
- Expert Guide entry
- How Not To Argue With Creationists by Jim Lippard, issue XXIX of Creation/Evolution, 11(2):9–21, Winter 1991–1992
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lesley Joy Rogers |
Clarke Medal 2004 |
Succeeded by Mark Westoby |
