Princeton University senior meteorologist Syukuro “Suki” Manabe stands for applause during a media conference on campus Tuesday, Oct. 5, in recognition of his Nobel Prize in physics. Manabe was recognized for his climate science research, which laid the foundation for the development of current climate models. Pictured with Manabe on the stage of Richardson Auditorium are (from left to right): Stephan Fueglistaler, professor of geosciences and director of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS); University Provost Deborah Prentice, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs; and Ben Chang, deputy vice president for communications and University spokesperson. Photo by Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications.
On Tuesday, October 5, Syukoro “Suki” Manabe, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in physics, received a standing ovation as he stood before a packed house of well-wishers, including students, faculty and administrators, during a press conference in Princeton’s Richardson Auditorium.
“It’s a great surprise and honor to be chosen by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to receive the Nobel Prize, established through the generosity and farsightedness of Mr. Nobel,” he told the assembled throng.
Manabe, a senior meteorologist at Princeton University, received the prize for “for the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.”
He shares the prize with fellow climate scientist Klaus Hasselmann of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, in Hamburg, Germany. The other half of this year’s physics Nobel Prize was awarded to Giorgio Parisi of the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
“Suki Manabe is a pillar in the field of climate science,” said Denise Mauzerall, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton. “Climate models built on Manabe’s foundation are critical tools today for predicting and analyzing how the world will change as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, and to quantify the enormous benefit of rapidly decreasing greenhouse gas emissions for life on Earth.”
