Michael McElroy (scientist)

Michael B. McElroy is Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies at Harvard University.

Positions

McElroy leads atmospheric science and policy work at two major universities, Harvard and Columbia. He heads Harvard University's Center for the Environment and chairs the Interfaculty Initiative on the Environment. In 1984 he won the George Ledlie prize for his work on planetary atmospheres. He served as Founding Chair of Harvard's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and has focused his research especially on effects of human activities on the global environment.

Education

Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

1962 Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics

1960 B.A. in Applied Mathematics (with honors)

Publications

A 1984 paper he co-authored with Steven C. Wofsy and Michael J. Prather on potential non-linear destruction of the ozone layer helped persuade the United States Environmental Protection Agency to carry out a risk assessment of chlorofluorocarbons that laid the groundwork for the negotiation of the Montreal Protocol.

McElroy is also the author of an atmospheric science textbook, The Atmospheric Environment: Effects of Human Activity.

References