Tad Murty (Deceased)
Credentials
- Ph.D., MS, Oceanography and Meteorology, Chicago, USA (Masters in 1962 and PhD in 1967). [1], [2], [12]
- M.Sc., India. [1], [2]
- B.Sc. (Physics), Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. [1], [2], [12]
Background
Tad Murty is former senior research scientist for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. He passed away in 2018.[12]
He was a former director of Australia’s National Tidal Facility as well as a professor of Earth Sciences at Flinders University, Adelaide. Before joining the University of Ottawa, he worked as a senior scientist with Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers in Ottawa. [1]
Murty was an adjunct professor for the Departments of Civil Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa. [1]
Murty is on Senator Inhofe’s List of “prominent scientists” who deny the existence of man-made climate change. [9]
Stance on Climate Change
August 17, 2006
Murty was quoted by Senator Inhofe’s Environment and Public Works, quoting a prior interview with Murty, as having changed his mind on global warming: [11]
I stated with a firm belief about global warming, until I started working on it myself,” Murty said. “I switched to the other side in the early 1990’s when Fisheries and Oceans Canada asked me to prepare a position paper and I started to look into the problem seriously.”
2005
Tad Murty was quoted in the Spring 2005 issue of Carleton University’s magazine:
“This is the biggest scientific hoax being perpetrated on humanity. There is no global warming due to human anthropogenic activities. The atmosphere hasn’t changed much in 280 million years, and there have always been cycles of warming and cooling. The Cretaceous period was the warmest on earth. You could have grown tomatoes at the North Pole.” [3]
Key Quotes
December 12, 2005
Murty wrote an article in The Ottawa Citizen:
“It turns out that our planet – and therefore the science that attempts to describe it – is immensely more complicated than Kyoto supporters suggest. Forty billion dollars buys a lot of science, and that science is paying off. We now understand the complexity and natural variability of climate in ways that were unimaginable just 10 years ago.
But the price of this understanding is that we now know that we do not know why the Earth is warming. We do not know if humans have anything to do with it, and they may well not. The scientific assumption behind the Kyoto protocol, namely that humans are known to be significantly interfering with an otherwise unchanging climate, is simply false. A new era of climate science lies before us.” [4]
Key Deeds
February 2007
Murty was on the writing team for the Fraser Institute‘s 2007 Independent Summary for Policymakers (ISPM) of the IPCC‘s Third Assessment Report (TAR). [5]
The ISPM‘s conclusion was “there will remain an unavoidable element of uncertainty as to the extent that humans are contributing to future climate change, and indeed whether or not such change is a good or bad thing.”
The Fraser Institute has received funding from several tobacco companies including Rothmans, British American Tobacco and Phillip Morris. It also received $120,000 from ExxonMobil between 2003 and 2004.
April 2006
Murty was a signatory to a 2006 open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that denied the existence of climate change while urging that no actions be taken on climate policy. The letter was signed by many prominent climate change skeptics. [10]
Affiliations
- Natural Resources Stewardship Project (NRSP) — Past “Allied Expert.” The NRSP is now defunct. [6]
- International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) — Former Consultant Science Adviser (last listed in 2015). [7]
- International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project (ICECAP) — Former expert (last listed in 2012). [8]
- Natural Hazards (Journal) — Forer Advisory Editorial Board member (1988), then Editor-in-Chief (1999 until his death). [12]
Publications
According to his archived profile at the University of Ottawa, “Dr. Murty has some 20 books to his credit, as an author, co-author and editor and has published extensively in peer reviewed scientific journals.”
According to a search of Google Scholar, Murty has published in peer-reviewed articles mainly in the area of Tsunamis and storm surges.
Murty is the co-editor of the journal Natural Hazards.
Resources
- “Murty, Tad,” Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa. Archived December 16, 2018. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pkjXI
- “Submission from the Lavoisier Group to the Garnaut Climate Change Review: Appendix B” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, February 2008. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- Cindy Robinson. “Global warning?” Carleton University, spring 2005 cover story. Archived December 18, 2005. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/NjxdF
- Professor Tad Murty. “We now know what we don’t know about climate change,” The Ottawa Citizen, December 12, 2005. Archived October 29, 2019, from iberica2000.org. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/qObQo
- “Independent Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (Working Group I),” Archived October 20, 2008, from Ross Mckitrick’s homepage at the University of Guelph. Archive URL:
- “NRSP People,” The Natural Resources Stewardship Project. Archived January 21, 2007. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/kfuHS
- “WHO WE ARE,” International Climate Science Coalition. Archived July 30, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ftowo
- “Experts,” ICECAP. Archived May 4, 2012. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/v9YHu
- “List of 400 Global Warming Deniers, Debunked – 3,” The Daily Green, January 11, 2008. Archived August 17, 2011. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.ph/k1b7j
- Richard Littlemore. “Denying Climate Change; Urging Inaction,” Desmog, April 19, 2006.
- Marc Morano. “Climate Momentum Shifting: Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming – Now Skeptics,” The Inhofe EPW Press Blog, May 15, 2007. Archived June 28 2007. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KJtn6
- “In memoriam for Prof. Tadepalli (Tad) Murty (1937–2018),” Natural Hazards, Volume 96, Issue 2 (March 2019). Retrieved from SpringerLink.
Other Resources
- “Tad Murty,” Wikipedia Entry.
- ExxonSecrets Factsheet: Tad Murty.
