Robert Jay Charlson (September 30, 1936 – September 28, 2021) was an American atmospheric scientist, climate scientist, pioneer in the fields of climate forcing and climate change, and coauthor of the CLAW hypothesis.Charlson is known for his research in atmospheric chemistry, aerosol physics, aerosol/cloud/climate interaction, aerosol and cloud instrumentation.
Robert Jay Charlson was born in San Jose, California on September 30, 1936, to Adele and Rolland Charlson. His mother's maiden name was listed as Stucky.[1] On March 16, 1964, he married Patricia Allison in Seattle in the University Christian Church in King County, Washington.[2] Charlson died on September 28, 2021, at the age of 84.[3]
Charlson received BS and MS degrees in chemistry from Stanford University. Harold S. Johnston was his undergraduate advisor.[4] His master's thesis was titled: “Techniques for High Speed Flash Photolysis”.[5] In 1964, Charlson was awarded a PhD in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington, Seattle.[6] His advisor was Konrad Büttner.[7][8] Since 1998, he was professor emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, chemistry, and geophysics at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.[9]
Charlson was one of the lead authors for Chapter 2, "Radiative forcing of climate change" in the 1995 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group report.[10] He was also a contributing author to the 1990 and the 2001 IPCC assessment reports.[11] In 2007, the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize for this work validating the scientific basis of climate change.[12]